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associated with merger. Other avenues for improving quality should be investigated and attempted before settling on a merger as a course of action. The PTA Council recognizes that there are legitimate concerns aver haw education in Orange County is funded. The PTA Council supports establishing a system of education funding for Orange County that would give each school district the ability to provide funding at a level appropriate to the circumstances of the community served. The PTA Council also urges both school districts' boards of education to identify and implement collaborative programs that will provide cost savings or improve the quality of services. I have copies for all of you. I would now ask for the community who supports this statement to please stand quietly. Thank you. David Laudicina: I just wanted to comment on some of the phrases and words popping around in all this stuff. Collaboration -I've been hearing about collaboration since I moved to Orange County in 1991. In fact, I talked about it with Moses when the East Chapel Hill School was going to be built. He assured me that the boards were going to get together and we were going to collaborate and be able to utilize that. So I voted far the bond. I would not have voted for it if I had known that I was not going to get collaboration. That's all -hearing nothing is ever done. These last minute promises of collaboration ring pretty hollow given collaboration's history. Besides, dangling a promise of a few slats in the City district schools is not providing equal educational opportunity for all. Bussing - I guess it's ok to send Orange County students on bus rides all over creation, an hour each way to get to schools. Why can't students, far example, southern Orange County district students have an opportunity to attend schools that are closest to them? Their parents are paying now; they will pay in the future far the building bonds to finance Chapel Hill district buildings, yet they are excluded from using them. In the future, without a merger, they will be sending down five cents to Chapel Hill far every one-cent to build County schools. Increased spending does not increase performance - I'm amazed that anyone can stand up here and try and convince us with a straight face, not being able to afford Spanish teachers and not providing the Spanish program to our students won't affect our children's performance? The list of programs the County has not realized because of budget requests not being fully funded goes on and on and continues to widen the educational opportunity Chapel Hill district students enjoy over Urange County district students. Merging won't save any money - I was encouraged to read in the Chapel Hill Herald on Tuesday that studies done on both districts support the premise that merging the schools would cause huge efficiencies and that a merged County school system would better utilize capacity, significantly postponing or avoiding new school construction. This is a direct savings to the taxpayer and mast likely offsets much of the difference between separate school systems with individual district taxes and a merged system with only one tax rate. Most of the capacity sharing doesn't occur until after 2010, giving us plenty of time to equalize the educational opportunity offered in all schools in grange County. A merged systems means we will turn into Cary -look around, development is happening now and will continue to happen. We have that beast over there called the Research Triangle that is going to grow whether we like it or nat. Thankfully, we have elected officials that try to maintain the quality of life we have in the County and support things like rural buffers and sustainable development. We're number one, you're number four.