4
FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 2008
Commissioners get local
schools’ budget estimates
timeline well ahead of typical years
BY DAVE PEARSON
SENIOR WRITER
Local school districts delivered
budget estimates to count)’ com
missioners earlier this week.
The Board of County
Commissioners requested the
budget estimates for the next fiscal
year from the Orange County and
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City school
districts last November.
The estimates are meant to give
commissioners an idea of schools'
likely needs for county money to
maintain programs with normal
growth taken into account
"Hopefully people will feel they
were heard and had the opportuni
ty to plan further ahead." said Bam
Jacobs, chairman of the board.
This is the first year the com
missioners have requested to see
the school budgets so early in the
budget planning process, which
is typically resolved by June. The
board will look at the budgets at its
upcoming retreat.
Neither school district's bud
get can be finalized until the state
legislature makes its decisions
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regarding items such as teacher
pay increases and how much it will
allot for capital improvements.
Because of this, the school dis
tricts made their projections based
on the increases of previous years.
“We don't have any way of know
ing what the state legislature is
going to do," said Pam Hemminger.
chairwoman of city school board.
Ruby Pittman, executive direc
tor of finance for the city schools,
said the preliminary budget will be
very close to the finalized budget.
Pittman said that the district
did growth projections and that
increased enrollment is driving the
budget increases.
She said the preliminary budget
is the best projection the district
can do at this point.
Patricia Harris, finance direc
tor for the Orange County Schools,
said that specific numbers won’t be
available until February or March
but that she is not worried about
what the state will decide.
“We have no reason to believe it
will be different from other years,"
she said.
Jacobs said he hopes the prelimi
nary budgets will make it easier for
the county to plan for how much
money it will need to keep up with
state requirements.
“The legislature tends to give
us unfunded mandates," he said
in regards to teacher pay increas
es, which the state requires but
counties fund.
The schools only included
requests for what the) need to con
tinue present operations. Money
for capital improvements, such as
the building of new schools, reno
vations and new programs, were
not included in the requests.
Jacobs said the state cut the
amount of money it will put into
capital reimbursement programs
and has not come through with pro
jections from the education lottery.
“It reduces our flexibility on
what we can spend,” he said.
Stephanie Knott, city schools
spokeswoman, said the district will
continue to revise its estimates.
“We are glad to have the task of
putting much of the budget togeth
er behind us," Knott said.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@ unc.edu.
News
:—
COURTESY Of SHERI EDWARDS
Frank Taylor Wright was a frequent sight up and down Franklin Street. He rode the bus to Chapel Hill most
days and became a recognizable figure with his finely tailored suits, hats and umbrellas. He died Monday.
Remembering Mr. Wright
BY ANASA HICKS
STAFF WRITER
Orange County lost a colorful
man Monday.
Frank Taylor Wright, a Durham
resident and integral part of Chapel
Hill, died of breathing complica
tions at UNC Hospitals Monday
evening. He was 90 years old.
Wright was known for his bright
and impeccably coordinated suits,
which he showed off six days a
week on Franklin Street.
“That was his profession," said
Larry Edwards Jr., Wright’s grand
son.
Wright lived with Edwards and
his wife for the past 13 years. “I’m
50, and for as long as I remember,
he’s been dressing up."
Edwards said that every day
except Sunday, Wright woke up at 5
a.m., dressed in a suit with a match
ing hat shirt and umbrella and went
to catch the 7 am. bus to Chapel Hill,
returning at about 3 p.m.
He often caught a ride with
Laura Moran, his next-door neigh
bor of seven years.
“I’ll miss him ringing my door
bell four times a day to catch a ride
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to the bus stop," Moran said.
Wright was born in Orange
County in 1917 and spent most of
his life between Chapel Hill and
Hillsborough. He worked in Lenoir
Dining Hall and 20 years for the
town of Fayetteville.
“He always dressed up, but he
didn't know that people noticed,"
Edwards said.
Local artist Artie Dixon did a
photo essay on Wright in 2000.
She said Wright told her, “I have
to believe people were bom for some
thing, and I was bom to dress.”
Wright was very popular in
Chapel Hill.
“He would get rides home from
Chapel Hill all the time," Lisa
Moran, Laura Moran’s sister, said.
“People loved to help him.’
Edwards said that Wright loved
having his picture taken and that
he had an effect on the young peo
ple of Chapel Hill.
“They would sit there and talk to
him and they were amazed at how
much he knew about Chapel Hill
and about life in general," he said.
“They were also amazed that at
90 years old, he would dress up
Shr flatly (Ear -Hpri
every day."
“He really enjoyed struttin’ his
stuff" said Sheri Edwards, Wright's
daughter-in-law. “He said that
if he didn’t get up and dress up
every day, no matter how he felt,
he would probably die."
Larry Edwards estimated Wright
owned 150 suits.
“About two months ago, I told
him, ‘lf you buy one more suit. I’ll
put you out,” he said.
Sherril Koroluk, who works for
the Preservation Society of Chapel
Hill, remembered the first time she
saw Wright.
“It was Valentines Day 1999," she
said. “He was walking down Highway
54, wearing all black with a red tie,
red boots and a red umbrella, and I
just thought he looked so cool.’
Wright’s funeral will be Sunday
at 10 a.m. at Jones Funeral Home.
Edwards said he'll bury his
grandfather in a red suit, black
shirt, red hat and a red umbrella.
“He just had a ball that’s what
kept him living."
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.