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Orange County schools, or those of Orange County parents trying to bring dawn the Chapel Hill schools. Rather, they were the voices of parents who want good schools for their children. We may be divided by our positions an merger, but we are united by this common interest in the education of our children. The proposals made by Commissioners Brown, Gordon, and Jacobs seem to build on that common interest. In addition to highlighting our common interests in the quality of our schools, the public hearings also revealed that there are many unanswered questions about the strengths and weaknesses of our two school systems. The task force proposed by Commissioners Brown and Jacobs would begin to remedy this situation. In establishing this task force, I urge you to work cooperatively with both Boards of Education so that the task force is not perceived as an assault an the autonomy of our two school systems. I also urge you to provide the task force with specific guidance as to what it should address. We don't want the public response to the task force report to be full of accusations that, "They weren't supposed to take on that issue, or they failed to look at this issue." If you expect an issue to be addressed, put it in the charge to the task force. If it is to be off limits, make that clear. The charge should state whether or not the task force is to make recommendations about a merger. When appointing the task force, please include parents from each school district as members. Parents often see advantages and disadvantages in schools that are not easily discerned from statistics and budgets. The parents appointed to the task force should have experience with elementary, middle, and high school programs. In addition, I believe that you should require the task force to seek public input on the strengths and weaknesses of each system. I am concerned by the suggestion that much of the task force's work will be undertaken by graduate students. As a former overworked graduate student myself, I am well aware of their limited capacity to analyze complex public policy issues. It certainly would be appropriate for graduate students to collect and organize data, but the experts on the task force should undertake the analysis. Leaving the task farce aside, I want to express my support far the proposals to analyze and possibly seek voter approval for a countywide supplemental tax. We face a difficult situation in Orange County with regard to education funding. While the tax base per student in the two districts is roughly the same, the income levels of the taxpayers are different. As a result, raising the tax rate for the Orange County district to the level of Chapel Hill would equalize funding, but it would also cause financial hardship far many County residents. A Countywide supplemental tax could better balance the competing concerns of adequate funding and ability to pay and should be able to generate support from parents in both districts. In closing I want to reiterate my appreciation for your consideration of the public's comments and your efforts to address the concerns of all the citizens of Orange County. I urge you to continue focusing on issues that unite the County rather than on one that divides us. Thank you. Arlene Furman: Please bear with me. I have visual impairments and my reading might be a little slow. Just when I thought the County Commissioners were going to rally to the cause of the Orange County schools, I was sadly disappointed with the proposals presented at the November 11th work session. With the exception of the brief proposal from Moses Carey, the word merger was conspicuously absent from the Commissioners' written statements. Indeed, these plans have abandoned the question of merger altogether. The proposal submitted by Commissioner Jacobs stresses once again greater collaboration between the two school systems. Of course, collaboration was