Minutes - 20031204 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Whereas, the Orange County Commissioners have proposed merging the Chapel Hill- Carrboro City Schools and the Orange County Schools effective as early as July 1, 2005; Whereas, the merger would impact taxation, course offerings, funding, school assignments, and administration for both districts; Whereas, the merger, should it pass, would have a profound impact on the size and identities of both districts; Whereas, many Chapel Hill-Carrboro City school system and Orange County school system residents have expressed strong feelings of disapproval for the merger; Whereas, state law mandates that only the five County Commissioners can decide whether or not to pass the merger and that the merger cannot be decided by referendum; Whereas, the County Commissioners were not elected on a platform concerning the proposed merger; Whereas, the residents wham the merger affects therefore have na voting power concerning this matter; Be it resolved that the Student Government of East Chapel Hill High School, representing the students of East Chapel Hill High School, opposes the state law against referendum, and encourages the Commissioners to rely on public opinion when making their decision about the proposed merger. Susan Houck: I have some reading material since it looks like we'll get out of here relatively early. I'd just like to say that I believe that merger is the only proposal that will solve the funding inequity and provide equal opportunity for our children, all the children in Orange County. As far as collaboration and task force, to me they seem like code words for delay. We heard both of these phrases used 17 years ago, and look where it's gotten us. Our inequity has grown from less than 5% to 34%. And the phrase "task force". With my experience, task forces generally accomplish few tasks and they have more feeling of stagnation than force and action. I think merger is the right thing to do and I think we should just go ahead and do it. Steve Benjamin: We've heard a lot of talk about political courage. It seems to me that based on what we've heard tonight, moving ahead with any talk of a merger at this point is not political courage, it's contempt for citizens and disregard for what most people are saying. Let me talk about a couple of points. The first one is this so-called funding inequality. There is not a funding inequality; there is a funding difference. The issue is that the Orange County district is not paying the taxes that Chapel Hill-Carrboro is paying. That's the issue on the table. It seems to me it is how to increase the funding and how the residents of Orange County district want to increase that funding to a level that they feel is sufficient. All the rest of the discussion of merger and consolidation and whatever, funding is the issue that should be addressed and it should be focused on. The second paint is the Chapel Hill and Carrboro system. I've really heard nothing in any of these discussions from a marketing standpoint, and the question is what's the benefit for Chapel Hill-Carrboro school system? I've heard none. I've heard discussions