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our land is in the use value tax program. There's 105,000 acres of farmland in our district compared to 6,000 in the City district. Farmland is taxed at six percent of its value at the 84.6% rate. That means $1 million worth of farmland would generate the equivalent of what a $60,000 house would generate in taxes. Maintaining this rural nature to our County is to the benefit of the whole County but Orange County children pay the price. Additionally, City water comes from the land situated in the Orange County district. This large area of land has property restrictions, thus posing another limitation on a residential and commercial tax base. Orange County people do not vote for a district tax, not because we don't care about education, but because it is not a good solution, it does not generate the needed funds. Now, Chapel Hill needs water and we all enjoy a higher quality of life because our area has a nice city with a university surrounded by beautiful countryside. But with the system the way it is, Orange County children pay the price. Orange County parents are not talking about whether or not our children get an A or a C in Spanish or AP English. We're talking about whether or not our children actually get to take Spanish. Some are not given the opportunity until Stn grade. And whether or not some of our children actually learn how to read. We have a serious shortage of reading recovery teachers. As I drive around Chapel Hill, which I do almost everyday to work, for shopping, to take my kids to music lessons, so far I have not had to scale a wall to enter the so called self contained community. It's time to realize that we are one community, that we are interdependent and do not live in isolation from each other. People deserve information about the problem, the funding inequity, in order to form an opinion on merger. I truly do not believe that Chapel Hill people, at least the ones I know, would be satisfied with the way things are if they understood that their children are receiving a superior education at the expense of a large segment of our children in our own County. We need to address this now. Elizabeth Brown: Thank you. Well, first of all I want to say voters are often and usually and sometimes right. And it's a good thing we didn't ask them about integration. "I don't want my kids to go to school with those kids." You know, I'll be honest. I do have a good friend who said that to me, and it was early in the summer before this whole thing sort of got as far as it got. I still like her fine. But I think we all carry small prejudices and I have heard that. Smaller school district, I agree, it's wonderful. Chapel Hill has doubled in the past ten years and you're going to double again. It's only five minutes from the home. I live five minutes from McDougle, and my kids go to two different schools. They ride the bus for a half an hour and 45 minutes. And I love my schools. And if we were to merge, I wouldn't want my kids redistricted to McDougle at all. And in the past redistricting in Chapel Hill, the Chapel Hill School Board upheld its policy of not redistricting children in a walk zone. And I think that makes common sense, and I don't know why people are afraid that in a merged system, common sense would somehow be superceded. Maybe I have a little more faith, maybe not. So why are we here? It's math. Because Chapel Hill asked for 15% less per pupil than Orange County did this year, so Orange County got 85%, 100-15, of our request. The fifth year in a row, without money for basic budgetary needs, not to mention expansion items, like elementary Spanish and teacher pay increases. We're here because the poverty rate in Orange County Schools is twice that in the Chapel Hill Schools. One third of our students receive free and reduced lunch. We also have 46% more African American