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John Link noted that he can see how equity can be achieved on the capital side. However, <br />when talking about operating equity, they are talking about two different philosophies of education and <br />different goals of the two school boards. <br />Commissioner Gordon feels the Board needs to make a decision on the district tax. It would <br />help the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School Board if they knew when the County Commissioners were <br />going to allow a district tax increase and when they are not going to allow it. <br />The Board discussed equity and the problems of achieving it. Commissioner Carey feels it is <br />important to continue to look at equity to see if the spending per pupil is within 5%. It would be difficult to <br />develop a policy for the use of the district tax because the Board does not know what is going to be <br />requested from year to year. He feels they need to discuss the use of the district tax since it has been <br />expanded to include capital and especially if one system wants to pay for a building which is above the <br />minimum standards. <br />John Link recommended that they come back in March or April with a snapshot on equity and <br />see where they are and go from there. He noted that when they put into the formula the cost for the new <br />schools they added 5% each year for inflation. There may be a case where the County Commissioners <br />will say that there is a certain dollar amount available for a school and if the school system wishes to <br />build only the base tier school to save money, then the school system could take the remainder of what <br />was included in the CIP for the new school and use it for other capital projects. <br />Commissioner Carey said that County projects should use the same 5% increase per year for <br />inflation. If there is extra money, this needs to be brought back to the County Commissioners for <br />consideration. <br />Neil Pedersen said that they are trying to stay within their budget regardless of the tier. They <br />did use the higher tier standards as guidelines but have designed the school to stay within the budget. <br />He does not feel that there will be a problem of having surplus money. <br />Chapel Hill/Carrboro School Board Chair Mark Royster said that the higher standards allow <br />them to provide some community services that probably would not be provided with a level 1 or tier 2 <br />school. When asked about after school programs and recreation space, Mark Royster said that their <br />Board needs to address this issue. This will be put on the agenda for the Commissioners' joint meeting <br />with the schools. <br />4. Year Round schools - no discussion <br />5. Coordinated Schools and Land Use Council to review future school sites <br />Commissioner Gordon distributed information on the formation of a Schools and Land Use <br />Council -- one per school district. The purpose of this Council would be to advise the Board of <br />Commissioners concerning growth and land use issues relating to schools. The handout listed the <br />charge, the membership composition and the implementation and is included as page of these <br />minutes. <br />proposal. <br />Commissioner Halkiotis and Commissioner Brown both endorsed Commissioner Gordon's <br />Commissioner Gordon would like to ask the jurisdictions if they want to participate and if they <br />do, to move ahead to develop a coordinated plan. It was decided to put this on a future agenda for <br />further discussion. <br />Commissioner Carey questioned the implications the creation of this board may have for the <br />planning board role.