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based on a ten year average of Caunty spending. It wasn't just an arbitrary number that we pulled out of a hat. I have also heard people say that if people cared about education they would move into the Chapel Hill-Carrboro System because people in the Orange County System have never been willing to vote for a district tax. I checked with Carolyn Thomas, our Supervisor of Elections, and at least since 1968, which is as far back as she had immediate records, that this proposition has never been put to the voters of Orange County. That is not to say that I don't think I know how they would vote, but it has never been put to them, so it is an inaccuracy to say they have rejected the idea. And finally, some people who are advocates of the Orange County System say that the district boundary isn't fair and that we don't have a large enough percent of the tax base and we carry an unfair burden financially. The way I calculate it, based on the charts we have in Appendix R, 35.9% of the tax base this year is located within the Orange County System boundaries and 37.8°l0 of the students. It is virtually identical. It is close enough so that it is almost identical. So it does not seem to me that the district boundary or the property tax base in the two systems is unfair based on the distribution of students at this time. Commissioner Gordon: I wanted to clarify for the Commissioners that if some other questions occur to us after tonight that we have a time period that we would be able to submit our questions to the staff in time for the November work session. Jahn Link: Certainly. Chair Brawn: Do we have enough time? John Link: Again, and my only reason for clarification in terms where the questions are being directed is that some of these questions by necessity will have to be answered by school staff and some answered by County staff. Certainly as the questions are provided to me I will submit them if I think they are appropriate to be answered by the school staff, and then see what their response is. Commissioner Gordon: I did some calculations similar to Commissioners Jacobs', and he is correct, rounding it off, 64% of the tax base is in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City School district and 36°~ in the Orange County School District. Whereas, 62 °lo of the students are in the Chapel Hill school district and 38°fo are in the Orange Caunty School district. It is virtually identical in terms of generation. I also figured the amount generated per pupil from a tax and it is slightly more that would be generated per pupil in the Chapel Hill System than the Orange County system. That is correct and I think needs to be noted. The other thing, a question I would like to ask for people to at least speak to at the public hearing is when you are talking to the Commissioners, is your major goal equality of funding for the two systems or is your goal merger for all that it would bring? Because it is possible to approach equality of funding without merger. This follows up on Commissioner Halkiotis' question, is bigger better? When you speak, what I would appreciate knowing is if you want merger because you think it is the only way to get equality of funding or do you want merger for all that it brings? When we talk about equality of funding, I would assume that would mean, and we would pledge that it would