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0 <br />November 20, 2002 <br />Ms. Valerie Foushee, Chair <br />Chapel Hill - Carrboro Board of Education <br />Lincoln Center, Merritt Mill Road <br />Chapel Hill, NC 27516 <br />Dear Ms. Foushee: <br />I write on behalf of the Orange County Board of Commissioners in response to <br />correspondence we received in late October from the Board of Education on the subject <br />of new school facilities. As you well recognize through repeated public <br />acknowledgements by your Board members, the County Commissioners remain firmly <br />committed to meeting the operational and capital needs of both school systems and <br />their students. That commitment is well- documented through Orange County's long- <br />standing ranking at the top of the list of county per pupil appropriations, and through <br />capital improvements funding of several hundred million dollars since we undertook the <br />1988 bond referendum. A recent audit of County finances indicates that 50 percent of <br />our budget is devoted to education. <br />We appreciate the collaborative spirit with which we and the two school boards have <br />worked in recent years. As I said at a recent meeting, although we do not always <br />communicate perfectly, the commitment to communicate remains strong. In that regard, <br />we believe it is important for the BOCC to lay out in this letter certain considerations and <br />constraints that will affect what can and what cannot realistically be achieved in <br />pursuing the direction established in your Board's resolution of October 17, 2002. Our <br />observations are founded in our unanimous and collective judgment that the best way to <br />sustain the community's support for education is to continue to demonstrate proactive <br />planning in a fiscally prudent manner. It is our intention to maintain our commitment to <br />excellent schools while balancing those needs with the numerous other County <br />obligations to provide high quality human services, public safety, and other vital County <br />services. <br />The County has achieved an enviably strong financial position and top -level bond <br />ratings through sound fiscal management and creation of and adherence to a rational <br />debt management policy. This has occurred while demonstrating a willingness to raise <br />revenue necessary to carry out a well - conceived long -range capital investment plan for <br />essential school and County facilities. <br />Within that context, this letter will touch upon the numbered paragraphs in your <br />resolution. <br />1. The BOCC anticipates recommendations coming from the High School Planning <br />Task Force by the end of the calendar year on the scope of the proposed third <br />high school in the Chapel Hill - Carrboro system. Based on our construction <br />standards and identified funding in the CIP, $27.8 million is the total expected to <br />