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Jim Baumhauer: Thank you for this opportunity. I am also a spouse of somebody running for Town Council who has the same multiplex issue as Bob Tyson. He read a prepared statement from his wife. I'm a 15 year resident of Chapel Hill with two school aged children. I come to you tonight because I believe that merger is not the solution. Merger could very likely lead to profound unintended consequences that would not be beneficial to the children of either school district. The bottom line for me is that first we must do no harm as we seek ways to raise the collective quality of education for all the County's children. That means that the pace and process of decision making on this very complicated issue should be incrementally measured, not precipitous, not emotional, not driven by an artificial timeline. We should explore, and actually exhaust all alternatives that encompass raising the funding for the County schools, collaborating on academic programs, and taking advantage of economies of scale in the operational aspects of running schools. This is exactly what the 1986 merger study report concluded. I commend Dr. Pederson's proposed options to merger. This is the kind of measured, thoughtful, proactive analysis that is needed. And based on what I know of the people of Chapel Hill-Carrboro, they will be happy to support collaborative programs such as those outlined in Dr. Pederson's letter. While I have been on the campaign trail, I cannot tell you how many parents have said to me that they would be happy to have the resources of our school district be shared with the County. The fact that many Chapel Hillians do not want merger is because they like the school system that they have carefully built over many many years. And they like local control, notwithstanding the fact that people have been referring to our school system as the City School District, we very much do not feel like a city. In fact, you probably know that our Town Manager, Cal Horton, is quick to remind people that Chapel Hill is a town, not a city. We may no longer be a small town, but we feel like a town, nonetheless, and we want to keep local control over our schools. It's that simple. And I think we can find a better solution than merger. A successful outcome to this issue can be achieved through 1) more active collaboration between the two school districts; and 2) an adjustment to the funding mechanism for the County schools. Merger is not the solution. Thank you very much. Jack Nestor: Good evening, my name is Jack Nestor, I'm a County resident, and I have two children at Grady Brown Elementary. I'm here tonight to express my support of school merger in Orange County. Hold your applause. For after exploring the various funding options available to us, merger is the only one that truly addresses the current funding dilemma facing Orange County School system. The Chapel Hill district tax subverts the basic principle that each child should receive the same amount of funding per year from the County. If the district tax is indeed considered a supplemental tax, then both school systems have been seriously under funded in the past few years, and the Countywide property tax should have been increased accordingly. But in reality, the district tax does not function as a supplemental tax, but rather figures into the basic operating expenses of the Chapel Hill school district. In this way, Chapel Hill has enjoyed a great flexibility in meeting its operating budget each year. Whereas, the same option has not been available to the County system. Merger would eliminate this complication and ensure equal funding throughout a single County system. Very recent proposals to launch a separate County district tax are disingenuous and ill considered