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provide such funding is supported by those taxes. We believe a merger should not be voted upon by the Board of County Commissioners until a thorough study has been made of the effects that merger could have on the quality of education in bath school systems. If either system would be harmed, obviously State law would make such a merger unacceptable. In particular, there appears to be a high potential for harm to the City schools from a merger. We foresee a climate of parents and students becoming disaffected from a system that would probably involve forced bussing to faraway schools, curriculum compromises from current plans, and reduced levels of funding from what would otherwise pertain. Such an image offers a stark comparison to the current system that has achieved a nationally recognized level of excellence. A merger would also harm the County schools. Teacher turnover is already an issue in both systems, and a merger would markedly increase the danger of losing the best teachers because they would not want to go through the disruptions and hassles of merger, with its inevitable teacher and student reassignments, redistricting, and long distance bussing. We should not farce our children to attend schools that are an unreasonable distance from their homes. No parent in either school system wants that to happen, and the chances of that happening are much higher in a merged system than they are at present. There is already not enough time in the day for our children's activities. I hate to imagine our children deprived of time to participate in sports and after school activities as they suffer on the bus for hours in the day, or even to get their homework finished. A great distance from home to school will also hamper the ability of even highly motivated parents to participate in their children's education, which would be a great loss to the quality of our schools. In closing, I would also like to mention that I would like to congratulate Dr. Keith Cook, Chairman of the Board of Ed of the Orange County school system for taking a persistent and strong public position in favor of increased funding but against merger. I appreciate the reasoning he has expressed at previous public meetings. At the same time, I would like to know where are the voices of our elected officials in Chapel Hill and Carrboro local governments. Why aren't you speaking out against this merger, which is so obviously opposed by, and not in the best interests of your citizens? Ne left a copy of his remaining commer-ts. Tommie Stephenson: I'm Tommie Stephenson. I spoke at the last hearing. I'd just like to think that I'm speaking for the northern Orange County residents and their children. I want to just take a moment to add to a previous speaker. I too am living a transition in my child. I am a federal contractor for the Medicare program, and not only am I dealing with the government's vision of how they want the program to be administered, but I've also experienced the goad experience of having goad leadership through this transition. I add that when I'm speaking of leadership from you guys and from us that are here speaking and anyone else who's involved in this decision that's very tough to make equal financial abilities for the students and our school systems. I want to be sure that you clarify the impact of a merger on the children and their educational opportunities, and please make it clear for our northern residents. You did do something on the financial presentation, I was glad to see. Please assure everyone that our children's daily school schedules will be minimally disrupted, school assignments will keep the children near their geographic location to minimize long bus rides, and allow teachers and parents to be involved with their schools. Remember, lots