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Another major aspect is looking at institutional racism. As they look at practices and policies they can find examples where they were promoting inequities within their school system. They were mare prone to talk about the inequities in a child's home and less prone to talk about inequities within our awn institutions. They are trying to correct this. Valarie Foushee said that what they found through some of their committee work is that there is an understanding among all of them that they need to work together to make a difference in closing the gap. The community is willing to be a part of the strategies to close the gap. Chair Jacobs asked the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools to provide a list of school districts that they have compared in terms of socioeconomic status and achievement. Neil Pedersen said that there is a report card done by the State on the website where there is information on the percent proficient for every school district and every school. This information went home on hard copy to every home in the school system. The website is www. ncreportcards.org. 2. SCHOOL BUDGETS John Link expressed appreciation on behalf of the County staff to both school systems far the great cooperation on the budget process this year. He made reference to a handout, which illustrates the funding policy for each school board. Regarding recurring capital, he said that 3 cents is allocated for recurring capital, which will be distributed on a per-pupil basis. Last year, '! cent of the 3 cents was allocated far current expense. This year, the 'l cent has been moved back far recurring capital. He painted out all the memos in the agenda packet that need to be addressed as follows: memo dated March 6, 2002 with periodic updates; Collaboration Committee Report dated February 1, 2002; memo dated February 26, 2002 regarding renovations for Hillsborough Elementary School; memo dated June 11, 2002 regarding school budget issues; and memo dated June 6, 2002 regarding fund balance information. John Link reported that he is recommending a $2,516 per-pupil allocation far 2002-03. For the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools it would total $26,201,624 and for the Orange County system it would total $16,029,336. The increase for CHCCS is $1,392,964 and for OCS is $115,364. This is driven by the number of pupils for each system. There is a recommended reduction of one cent for the district tax in CHCCS because the funding is over what was requested. There is a recommended $500,000 in interest earnings from certificates of participation for Cedar Ridge High School to be used by OCS toward one time capital start-up costs for the high school. Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Presentation Neil Pedersen thanked the County Commissioners for the opportunity to share their budget request with the County Commissioners. The major accomplishments for 2001-2002 include implementation of the Minority Student Achievement Plan, implementation of the Curriculum Management Plan, new strategic plan, adoption of district High Performing School Environmental Standards, opening of Smith Middle School, and beginning construction of Elementary School #9. He listed the district cost savings initiatives as follows: partial outsourcing of custodial services (savings of $80,000 per year), proposed district-wide copier management contract, engagement of Robert S. Segal, CPA PA to identify potential sales tax revenue, and a contract with Educational Consortium for telecommunications savings. Regarding other studies by Segal and Associates, he said that they would like to wait to see the results from the Orange County Schools to see the savings before they decide to engage in a contract. He said that his understanding is that 100°~ of the savings go to the consultant in the first year, so they would like to try and identify the savings on their own.