FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                    May 21, 2001

CARY, NC – Citizens are invited to participate in the Town of Cary’s public information exchange this evening on the Wake County Public School System’s $30 million operations funding request. The information exchange, which will be cablecast live on Cary’s Town Hall TV, will run from 6:00PM – 7:30PM in the Council Chamber at Cary Town Hall, 316 N. Academy Street and will include a presentation by school system officials followed by a question-answer-comment period for citizens. Those planning to speak will need to sign up with the Town Clerk at 5:30 PM in the Chamber.

"We felt it was very important to help give the school system an opportunity to get out accurate information about their needs and to give our citizens a chance to ask detailed questions of the folks that have the answers," said Cary Mayor Glen Lang who called for the forum. "Education is one of the biggest concerns of our residents, and those of us on the Council want to make sure we do everything possible to alleviate those concerns."

Earlier this month the Cary Council unanimously adopted a Resolution of Commitment to Quality Education in which they pledged to:

• Insist that the citizens and governments of Wake County are inextricably involved in a year-round, collaborative effort to find innovative ways to meet the community’s educational goals; and,
• Encourage the Wake County School Board to make funding choices and operational decisions that support the values of their constituency, recognizing that all of its actions combine to create the total perception of its effort—such as choosing to meet federal guidelines for bussing instead of choosing to far exceed the guidelines and taking that operational funding savings and redirecting it to meet educational goals;
• Work in partnership with the Wake County School Board and other Wake County elected officials to bring the Wake County per pupil expenditures in line with jurisdictions we want to emulate; and finally,
• All the time keep foremost in everyone’s minds that our highest order is to concentrate on doing the best for our children.

This Resolution comes after the Town of Cary initiated a number of education efforts including:

• Appropriating more than $4 million in FY 2001 to supplement funding of educational needs of public schools serving Cary children;
• Adopting North Carolina’s first Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance for Schools to help ensure that development no longer outpaced the Wake County Public Schools System’s ability to provide classroom space; and,
• Securing the commitment by developers to donate schools and school sites.

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