Capital Standards CCBAC Presentations

  1. What are the industry indicators? What are others using in the industry that triggers the need for additional infrastructure investment? (Here we are talking aboutquantitative and not qualitative). These tend to vary widely, as not all districts structure their facilities or student placement the same way. Even comparing Wake County to Mecklenburg is a challenge based on their current non-student-address based assignment plan.
  2. What are the existing standards for determining the County’s capital need for your business area? The standards for new schools are based on a comparison of teachers to available adjusted teaching stations. New schools are constructed for a 90-year lifecycle, with planned comprehensive renovations at year 30 and year 60, subject to available funding. Discrete capital systems replacement is also factored in.

Design and construction guidelines are furnished by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.

  1. Does the current standard (s) adequately address the needs of the County? The current standard(s) do not adequately address the needs of the County as they have been tailored to reflect the current economic realities. An example is the incorporation of teacher “float” in middle and high schools; another is the continued reliance on a fleet of nearly 1000 portable classrooms.
  2. When was the standard (s) revised last? In 2007, the Superintendent’s Standards Review Committee presented changes to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education (CMBE) for adoption and incorporation in capital planning and construction.
  3. What are the bases for the standards? (Local, state, national) The bases for the standards are driven by the state of North Carolina (relative to class size, teacher allotment, and school construction), CMBE (staffing formulas, student assignment), and Mecklenburg County (capital outlay).
  4. What entities do you benchmark for comparison? Benchmarking is a difficult thing to do, insofar as standards vary by state and locality. However, similarly sized districts and members of the Council of Great City Schools are regularly used for comparison.
  1. What are you basing your capital submission upon when you request new projects? The projects needed to address student population growth in Mecklenburg County (specifically, yield by Transportation Analysis Zone converted to teacher allotments based on current funding models and projected school-by-school on a ten-year planning horizon); the comprehensive renovation projects needed to address health, safety, and/or lifecycle (based on facility condition assessments and other information generated by Building Services); and the projects required to meet mandates (such as ADA) imposed on CMS externally as well as internally-generated initiatives (i.e. instructional technology) intended to positively impact student achievement.

Note: Your presentation should center on what standards you use to come up with your capital projects and not the number or how you rank or prioritize your projects.

The idea of capital standards is to guide the County in ensuring we have the right amount and mix of capital infrastructure that meets the needs and expectations of the community.

Ensure your presentation is centered on answering the above questions and include any other items that will provide understanding of your capital standards.