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rebuilt from the ground up and will inconvenience a large number of our children and their parents, especially the working parents. I think mast importantly, it will put our children in a less advantageous position than they are in today. Every parent I talk to at my daughter's schools, in my Lake Hogan Farms neighborhood is opposed to the merger. And here I ask you, the Commissioners, to please listen to our voices and please consider the other viable options to improve the County schools. But school merger is not the answer. Thank you. Artie Franklin: My name is Artie Franklin, Orange High School, class of 1979. The first place that I lived in North Carolina was Cedar Grove. I was a boy scout for six years in troop 822 in Hillsborough, and I have acquaintances, family, and friends in northern, central, and southern parts of the County. I've lived mast of my life in Durham. I work in Durham; both my children were born in Durham; we recently moved to Chapel Hill for the schools. In spite of this, I am not in principle apposed to a merger. I am opposed to the mendacity that has accompanied these merger discussions. References to civil rights and social responsibility have damaged civility and are socially irresponsible. In addition, the misconception that merger is an issue of rich versus poor has encouraged the dissonance between pro and anti-merger factions. Its origins are based in the current disparity in per pupil funding between the County and City school systems. The Chapel Hill-Carrbora school system is first in the State in per pupil funding. But the Orange County school system is fourth, not 104th as some would imply. Viewed in context, this is a proposed merger between a rich school system and a richer school system. In this light, the stated goal of equalizing per pupil funding is meretricious at best. It pushes an exaggerated disparity as the justification for merger. The County Commissioners imposed merger is likely to instigate a contentious politicized school system and will exacerbate the differences between County and City, while negatively impacting all of the schools in the new system. The merger of the school systems should be pursued only if the goal is to promote academic quality, and if the people of both communities support it. For a successful merger, people in both communities must first stand down from the fatuous rhetoric, and instead agree upon a set of common goals and implementations to ensure that a merged system will be the best in the State. With this and recent newspaper reports in mind, I urge the Board of County Commissioners to charge the two school systems' boards of education with the task of jointly preparing a merger plan to be completed for a November 2004 referendum. If the school boards are unable or unwilling to complete the task in time for that referendum, then the Board of County Commissioners should decide the question of merger. Ideally, the decision for merger should be made by the voting people of Orange County, not the Commissioners. Thank you for your time and the opportunity to speak on this issue. Claudia Tolan: Goad evening. My name is Claudia Tolan and I have two sons in Orange County schools, one in A. L. 5tanback, and one in Cedar Ridge. And the reason I'm here tonight is to speak very briefly in favor of the merger. I heard tonight from mare than one person from Chapel Hill that one of the arguments against the merger was that Chapel Hill's average income is 60% higher than Orange County's income. Sa they are really worried how can we afford to pay for the increased taxes