Minutes - 20031204 - Laserfiche WebLink

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County. County impact fees should be raised and hopefully graduated. I understand that the Commission is working toward graduated impact fees. I congratulate you for doing that and urge you to continue that effort. In conclusion, it is clear to me that any solution to the problem of the Orange County school district would require an increase in taxes. It has been said that merger is the only permanent solution, but I would like to paint out that the excellent funding for schools that we enjoy now is not permanent, with or without merger. Libbie Hough: I'm a parent of two children in Orange County schools. I don't have anything incredibly profound to say this evening, but I will ga through a couple of phrases that I think would perhaps provide some sound bytes and things that we can all take home with us. So what is the problem that we have? The problem is that there is a funding disparity between the County and City systems that grows every year, and with it, so does the inability of the children of rural Orange County to achieve their full potential. So what does this mean? Children in rural Orange County have access to fewer resources -reading recovery, AG services, foreign language options, AP courses, etc. -than children in the Chapel Hill system. Teachers are compensated less for doing the same jab as their City counterparts. Many of our buildings are substandard places in which to teach, learn, and play. Sa how did we get there? We've allowed the continued existence of the Chapel Hill district tax, which creates an inevitable and artificial funding cap far the Orange County schools. We've supported wise land use policies that enhance our quality of life and maintain our rural character, but unintentionally limit growth of the healthy tax base in the County and the potential of a separate school system. We've accepted unchecked development within the City's district boundaries, creating a need for too many school buildings. We will help pay for these buildings with our taxes if band packages pass. Our children will have no access to these buildings ar the opportunities that they hold. We've contributed to the health of the local economy, but we do not share equally in the wealth that we help generate. We've unwittingly condoned the existence of two separate and inequitably funded school systems for decades; a framework that results in reduced educational and lifelong opportunities for our children. So what can we do to fix this problem? We can demand along-term Countywide approach to education, ensuring that all children in our County, na matter where they live, have the opportunity to access resources they need and deserve. We can insist that tax dollars allocated for task forces ar collaboration be used instead to craft a merger plan and perhaps even some consultant to help us work through the divisive issues that we've created and create a unified school system in Orange County -one that draws upon the strengths of both current systems and increases opportunity for all. But we must all denounce the status quo. This disparity will only get worse as time goes by. No Orange County school district tax, no collaborative initiatives, na Countywide supplemental tax can fix this problem. Merger will dismantle this inherently discriminatory system and will assure that all children, not just those who are privileged enough to live in the Chapel Hill school district, to have the opportunities that they sa richly deserve. As always, I will leave this evening with mare questions about our future. How will we justify yet another year of less than adequate funding for our system, while Chapel Hill is held harmless? How will we convince those Orange County residents who have voted for previous bond packages to do so again? We may have to start asking ourselves, "What's in it for us?" How can we justify to our community that the Orange County schools will make painful choices about which staff members and programs to retain while Chapel Hill can continue to expand its programming? Lastly, haw can anyone justify denying opportunity to all the children in our County?