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an illusion to believe that the extensive disparity and financial resources does not relate <br />directly to the quality of education." Another argument -Orange County is property poor <br />and cannot compete with Chapel Hill's district tax. The Georgia Supreme Court <br />recognized the vastly different opportunities afforded rural and City children by ruling. <br />The inequities in the school finance system deny students and property poor districts <br />equal opportunities. Commissioner Jacobs, you'll be interested to know this. The New <br />York High Court further affirmed this ruling in the Board of Education Levittown vs. <br />Niquith (sp?). "We are assuming that there is a significant correlation between amounts <br />of money expended and the quality and quantity of educational opportunity provided." <br />And the idea that money does not equal educational achievement -we've been told by <br />Chapel Hill and been asked far conclusive evidence that mare money would guarantee <br />that our children would perform as well as children in Chapel Hill. The Supreme Court of <br />New Jersey answers this question. "The constitutional answer is that they are entitled to <br />pass or fail with at the least the same amount of money as their competitors. The <br />constitution does not tell them they will get the minimum because that is all they can <br />benefit from." It further Thorogood Marshall's opinion that when a child in an under <br />funded district succeeds, it is to the credit of the child, not the district. In few areas other <br />than education do people sa readily question the promise that the availability of money <br />affects quality? This attitude demonstrates that inequitable systems of funding public <br />education discriminate indirectly in a way that most Americans would find unacceptable <br />if the discrimination were direct. Commissioners, these court cases have done your <br />work for you, in that they have established a precedent for you to affect change and give <br />all Orange County children equal access to educational opportunity. The only way to <br />completely achieve this is merger. Otherwise, Orange County will only be receiving <br />more equal amounts of less. Thank you. <br />John Anderson: I grew up in Chapel Hill and attended the public schools. After going <br />away to college and starting my career, I returned three years ago. My wife and I built a <br />home in Lake Hogan Farms, only one mile from Chapel Hill High School so that our kids <br />would be sure to go to that school. Based on what we've been hearing, if the merger <br />goes through, there's a strong possibility that our kids will be redistricted. This would <br />force our kids to ride a bus for nine miles instead of just one to attend high school. If our <br />kids were redistricted, they would be negatively impacted in several ways. First, longer <br />bus rides. This will lead to less time for homework, after Schaal activities, and sleep. <br />Our older son is a sophomore at Chapel Hill High. He plays multiple sports for the <br />school and is a member of the student government executive committee. We would <br />much rather he attend school only one mile away rather than drive nine miles on old 86. <br />Two, potentially different course offerings. Chapel Hill schools offer more advanced <br />courses than the Orange schools that my son takes advantage of. Third, less parental <br />involvement. My wife volunteers at Chapel Hill High School on Wednesday mornings. It <br />would be much less appealing to her to drive an extra 30 minutes each way to volunteer <br />at Cedar Ridge. It will also be less convenient far me to pick up the kids after practice ar <br />other after school activities. Four, fewer classmates to interact with. Because our <br />neighborhood is in a small pocket that is likely to be bussed up to Cedar Ridge, most of <br />their classmates will live far away from us. It will not be convenient for them to get <br />together or to get to know their other classmates. With the rural buffer, it simply does <br />not make sense to merge the systems and start bussing kids far away from home. Our <br />family will also be negatively impacted by the decline in value of our home. A reputable <br />realtor has told us that the immediate impact of merger, which includes the redistricting <br />of our neighborhood to Cedar Ridge, will be in the 10°~ range. A merger would rob my <br />family of $45,000 in equity. This will make it much more difficult for me to afford to send <br />