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_~~ ~-- <br />~/~~/U; <br />• .~ <br />MERGER OF <br />THE CHAPEL HILL-CAI2RBOR0 AND THE ORANGE COUNTY <br />SCHOOL DISTRICTS • <br />Ado®t a Goal of comaletine the decision to consolidate the two school svstems no <br />later than December 30.2003 <br />The Merger decision may be accomplished in one of two ways: ~ (other means may <br />also be available) <br />1) By decision of both school boazds and the Board of County Commissioners with all <br />elected boazds involved in plan development and implementation upon approval by <br />the State Board of Education. . <br />2) By decision of the Boazd of County Commissioners who will be responsible for plan <br />development'and implementation upon approval by the State Boazd of Education. <br />Note: A public referendum may be used in either process but is not required. <br />Appropriate public hearings will be held regardless of the process chosen. <br />Recommendation for Process: <br />Invite both schools systems to approve a merger decision and plan by July 1, 2003 with <br />subsequent involvement in planning and implementation. If either or both decline to <br />approve of consolidation and participate in the planning for implementation, the Boazd of <br />County Commissioners will proceed with the decision and develop• a consolidation plan • <br />for approval by the State, which may include a public referendum no later than <br />November, 2003. <br />While there are many reasons for not pursuing this consolidation at this. time, I will focus <br />on the reasons why it is timely. This recommendation is not based on the promise of <br />reduced cost of operating the schools in the short run, but may provide for some savings <br />in the capital and operations azeas in the future. The financial impact on county school` <br />district residents will be the greatest deterrent and cause the greatest hazdship, but may be <br />mitigated with a phasing plan for equalizing the per pupil county allocation at the city <br />schools level <br />The questions one mast ask at this time are "would. we plan for two separate school <br />districts in Orange County today if we had the choice of starting again? " "Would the <br />gap in funding that currently exist grow wider if we continued our current policies? " "Is <br />the current funding disparity hindering or contributing to the equal educational <br />opportunity of county school system students? " <br />Reasons why consolidation of systems is timely in 2003: <br />