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school funding would come from the Countywide district tax or if some would come from the general property tax. Commissioner Gordon said that the Countywide supplemental tax was one of three methods listed in the September 15th staff report of haw to address funding inequity without merger. The supplemental tax would be a special separate tax. She does not envision it replacing the other. This would be a separate tax for which the Board would define the purposes. Commissioner Jacobs said that he thinks the Countywide supplemental tax is supplemental. He thinks it is fair to say that because the voters in a district have endorsed a tax it is easier in budget time, instead of raising property taxes far everyone, then the district tax is raised for those who have previously endorsed the concept. The advantage of having a Countywide supplemental school tax would be to get the voters to speak on whether or not they wanted to make that additional commitment. He said that they have not defined what equity is here. He hopes that this would come out of a study by professionals who can judge this with an unbiased view. Commissioner Carey asked about the State requirement of providing equal per-pupil allocations. Jahn Link said that whether it is a general Ad Valorem tax or a supplemental tax, if you are applying it to both systems, it has to be on a per-pupil basis. Geof Gledhill said that a Countywide supplemental tax would have to be appropriated on a per- pupil basis the same as a general fund appropriation. The only way to do it different would be if there were a special district tax for each school district. Commissioner Jacobs said that, to be clear, that if the Countywide tax went up, the CHCCS district tax would go down proportionately. Commissioner Gordon said that she understood that the Countywide supplemental tax would have to be on a per-pupil basis. She emphasized that she would not necessarily recommend that when the Countywide tax went up that the CHCCS tax may go down completely. She would recommend that each time that each of the needs be addressed. She is trying to give the OCS the money that they asked for but still give CHCCS their historical increases each year. She said that Orange County is good at funding their school systems. She wants the OCS to get more money and far the CHCCS to still get their needs met. Commissioner Halkiotis said that in these four proposals that Commissioner Jacobs, Commissioner Gordon, and Chair Brown do not mention merger and Commissioner Corey's proposal has merger all in it. He said that Commissioner Carey has made some suggestions for deadlines and he is specific. He said that there is commonality in the other three. He made reference to the Countywide supplemental tax and said that he understood that it would increase and the district tax would decrease over time to zero. He read an article on the history of the district tax. He asked if this was a segregated school system at the time the tax was put into place. He assumed that it was. He said that they should work an issues that they have common ground on, and the first is the creation of the task force. Ta have someone like Bill Friday to chair that group attaches a certain amount of prestige, respect, and integrity to the process to help diffuse a volatile issue. He said that he does not appreciate the vile threats that some County Commissioners have received when their goal has been to make sure that each child in Orange County has an equal opportunity for education. He likes the idea of setting up this task force with Bill Friday and Madeleine Grumet. This task force should not become another group that will have some severe political bend to it.