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every child regardless of where they come from by providing them with the same educational opportunities. It levels the playing field. As an Orange County parent, I am frustrated and depressed. Five years ago the parents at my child's school went to the County Commissioners and asked for funding far foreign language teachers far all the County elementary schools. One teacher far one schaol was funded. Five years later, despite repeated requests every single year, we still have one Spanish teacher at one elementary school. I don't want my child ar any other child in the County to be told that when he gets to high school, he should be satisfied with taking a vocational or technical education course instead of the AP course he wants to take. I don't care that Orange County schools are considered to be the fourth best funded in the State and Chapel Hill is the first. Does anyone in this roam think that they should be told to be satisfied with the status quo? That they should not have high expectations for their schaol system? We need to expand our children's opportunities, not limit them. We have all heard that many parents in Chapel Hill bought houses in town because they'd been told they had a much better schaol system than the County. And I don't think that's a perception to take lightly. It's the reason we're here tonight. I understand the parents in Chapel Hill put a lot of time and money into their schools to ensure their achievement and make them the best they can possibly be. But the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City school system is not a private school system. It is a public school system, and public schools are here to serve the entire public, not just one self-contained community. The County Commissioners need to look beyond the individual here and determine what is the best solution for the entire County. What solution will serve the greater goad and not just satisfy an individual level of comfort ar need. And from where I stand right now, merger looks like the only solution that will ensure that every child in the entire County has access to the same quality of education. Thank you. Greg Britz: Hi. Why are we here? Apparently to discuss the idea of merger. But merger is a solution. What is the problem? I've heard the phrase funding disparity mentioned as the problem, but what does that actually mean? Every day I open the newspaper I see the disparity described as the extra $12 million that Chapel Hill receives from their district tax. This is not the disparity. The disparity occurs because of a flaw in the policy used to fund the two districts. This flawed funding policy places a cap in the amount of funding that the Board of Commissioners can provide to Orange County schools. The problem will continue to get worse every time the district tax is raised. I won't go into the details because it sounds like a few people have started to understand that. There are other flaws that lead to inequities. One is the fact that 2t~°lo of Chapel Hill's tax base is commercial, yet all those revenues go to Chapel Hill schools. When you compare the actual per pupil dollar amount of tax paid by residents in each district, after you back out the commercial revenues in each, Orange County residents actually pay $50 per pupil for every penny of tax levied, while Chapel Hill residents pay less, at 48 cents per penny of tax. I've heard a lot of talk about subsidizing the Orange County schools, and I think it's in the reverse. Two -the fact that all school construction costs are funded equally by all County taxpayers, yet half the bond issue to pay for this high school here, Cedar Ridge, construction, is coming out of much needed capital improvement money for Orange County schools. Chapel Hill has never had to dedicate any of its district revenues to its own new schools. Third -future capital