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The merger proposal went to a vote in the county, and was defeated, but the farmer, although saddened, was not deterred. He decided that in order to improve the chance of merger and the quality of education in general, he needed more political capital, so he ran for a seat in the state legislature as a way to get it. Although a struggle, he won that seat, and by his first day in office, he saw to it that he was appointed to the education committee. He served as state senator, then governor, and then as President of the United States of America. Last year he earned the Nobel Peace Prize. That town was Plains, Georgia, and that farmer, of course, was Jimmy Carter. He saw back then what so many of us still struggle to see today -artificial boundaries are not accidental, and their consequences are not benign. He had the courage to stand up to the pettiness and hostility of those surrounding him. He fought heart and soul for equality of opportunity. I ask you to follow his example. Find the courage to stand up, as you have never done before. Merge these schools. It will work out. The sky will not fall. If you doubt this, ask Jimmy Carter, or better yet, go to Plains, Georgia. They no longer struggle over merger of city and county schools. They are one, as we should be. Perhaps the liberal bastion of the South could learn a thing or two from a small town in Georgia. Gayane Chambless: I just wanted to thank you for allowing us to come out again tonight and for you to be here to listen to all of us. And I applaud the courage that it has taken to bring this issue back to the table after 17 years. Yet I feel we have not progressed at all, even after much debate. As in 17 years ago, more collaboration was suggested, yet it never resulted in any benefits to the children in the school systems. Here we are again, looking at collaboration as an answer to the problem of disparity between the systems. I appreciated Dr. Halkiotis declaring atone meeting in regards to collaboration and specifically the needs to build an alternative school. He said, "Stop talking about it, just do it." That has been the problem with collaboration -much talk, but no action. And the gap in funding between the two systems continues to grow. Ida not see that collaboration will permanently solve the problems of the disparity in funding and therefore opportunities in the school systems. The proof is in the pudding, and has been for at least 14 years of the last 17 years since collaboration was first recommended in the original merger study. Yet another proposed has been that of a countywide district tax. Unfortunately, the amounts suggested (.04/$100 to raise $1.5 million} only covers one half of the County's unmet needs this year alone. This does not even take into account that the City district tax would remain in place and be allowed to increase when needed, thereby allowing the gap again to widen again and again. This is totally unfair to the children of the County school system, to have only a portion of their budget met year to year, while the City system can raise their district tax to fully meet not only their needs, but many of their expansion items as well. But it is not just the parents of the Orange County school system who agree that this is unfair. The existence of a positive correlation between expenditures and educational opportunity has been recognized in 13 states' highest courts. According to Justice Marshall, "It is an inescapable fact that if one district has mare funds available per pupil than another district, the former will have greater choice in educational planning than will