Feng Shui Schools - John Locke Foundation

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wake County’s unenlightened school building program
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suggests that a school’s physical environment has
an impact on student learning, but researchers have
had difficulty demonstrating statistically significant
relationships between the physical environment and
student outcomes” (pp. 72-73).
5. Steve Higgins, Elaine Hall, Kate Wall, Pam
Woolner, and Caroline McCaughey, “The Impact
of School Environments: A Literature Review,” The
Design Council, February 2005.
6. According to the Department of Public
Instruction, Average Daily Membership (ADM)
is the “total number of school days within a given
term–usually a school month or school year — that
a student’s name is on the current roll of a class,
regardless of his/her being present or absent, is the
“number of days in membership” for that student.
The sum of the “number of days in membership”
for all students divided by the number of school
days in the term yields ADM. The final average
daily membership is the total days in membership
for all students over the school year divided by the
number of days school was in session. Average daily
membership is a more accurate count of the number
of students in school than enrollment.” Department
of Public Instruction, “North Carolina Statistical
Profile 2006,” p. 1. All ADM figures provided, with
the exception of 2005, are final ADM numbers.
7. All data, except for ADM numbers, were
obtained from the North Carolina State Data
Center, LINC, linc.state.nc.us.
8. The 2005 ADM is the first month numbers,
which are usually higher than the final ADM. For
this reason, the ADM percent increase between
2004 and 2005 may be inflated.
9. Wake County Public School System, “Building
Program Cost Breakdown,” www.wcpss.net/bond.
10. Ibid. Wake County Board of Education and The
Board of County Commissioners, “Capital Program
Planning Issues: Addendum,” May 2006. Data
for recently completed projects provided by Alex
Fuller, Supervisor of Program Controls, Facilities
Planning and Construction, Wake County Schools.
The projects include Brier Creek ($21,047), Sanford
Creek ($24,131), Forest Pines Drive Elementary
($23,829), Holly Springs High ($19,948), and Panther
Creek High ($20,729).
11. Mike Burriss, “CIP 2006: Existing Campus
Major Project,” Wake County Public School System,
September, 2006.
12. Op. cit. at note 9.
13. Wake County Public School System, “Blueprint
for Excellence 2006: Major Renovations,” www.
wcpss.net/bond/major_renovations.html.
14. The school system is projected to add 32,693
students between 2006-2007 and 2010-2011. See
Wake County Public School System, “Actual and
Projected WCPSS Enrollment From 1985 to 2025,”
November, 2005, www.wcpss.net/demographics/
overview/index.html.
15. The actual capacity of these schools will vary
according to the final building design, the addition
of mobile units, and schedule. The assumption used
here is that all elementary and middle schools will
be converted to year-round schools, yielding 1,124
elementary and 1,623 middle school seats per school.
It also assumes that each high school will have
2,223 seats. For both middle and high schools, it is
assumed that the school system will use the “large”
building design.
16. Paul Abramson, “11th Annual Construction
Report,” School Planning & Management, February,
2006, p. C-12. The four state region includes North
Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
17. Ibid. This assumes that construction costs will
rise at a pre-Katrina rate of three percent a year
for four years. It also follows the School Planning
& Management report’s prediction that U.S. school
construction will slow in upcoming years, increasing
supply and lowering demand (and cost) of essential
school construction materials. The adjusted cost
is $19,507 ($20,606) for an elementary school
seat, $24,745 ($26,169) for a middle school seat,
and $26,787 ($30,703) for a high school seat (Wake
County averages).
18. See Wake County Public School System,
“Blueprint for Excellence 2006: Frequently Asked
Questions,” www.wcpss.net/bond/faqs.html;
WCPSS, “Looking Beyond the Typical Solutions to
Provide Classroom Seats,” April 2006, www.wcpss.
net/auxiliary-services/faqs.html; Wake County Board
of Education, “Board Minutes,” 2000-2006, www.
wcpss.net/Board/minutes/index.html.
19. Future lottery revenue will depend on changes
in enrollment, the effective tax rate, and total
lottery revenue received.
20. This total assumes fixed costs for administrative
costs ($800,000), the convention center debt ($10.4
million), and RBC Center debt ($5.2 million). It
also assumes that the tax revenue will grow by an
average of 5 percent per year between 2008 and
2013. It also assumes that legislation will be enacted
that would allow the county to redirect funding
from the Centennial Authority ($1.6 million a
p o l i c y r e p o r t