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the possibilities far her future. They raise 50°~ of the money privately. She has been mentoring this young girl since the 4t" grade, and she just started high school. The significant difference has been the BRMA high school specialist hired by the mentoring program. The specialist has been there as a friend and counselor and has found tutors for the girl. The specialist has set limits and challenged the young people to reach out. She fears that if the money is not provided at the requested level, that these positive experiences will not happen and our young people will not succeed. The additional monies needed are $30,000. Paul Lindsey is Caroline Lindsey's husband. He is also very concerned about this item of $30,000 that has been left unfunded in the proposed budget. He said that the purpose of this program is to help close the achievement gap between minority and white children. He said that this is one of the most effective programs. The parents must be involved in this program, the child must be committed, the mentors are carefully screened, and the mentors are thoroughly trained before they start and are supported continually. Each student knows that if he or she succeeds, there is money in this program for scholarships for college or other education after high school. He said that it would be outrageous to cut this back. Jean Hamilton is a mother of two children in the CHCCS. She said that she was going to abandon her written comments because others have already spoken about fully funding the CHCCS budget to meet the needs of the students. She said that this County might have the highest funding of schools in the State, but it is not adequate. The diversity and the demands of the federal government and state cause them to need more funding than they have in the past. Having a target of 48.1 percent means nothing if it is not meeting the needs of their students. She said to raise the County tax andtor the district tax to meet the needs. Anne Schroder is a parent of a first grader in the CHCCS. She said that they need sufficient funding for fulltime teaching assistants. She said that children come to the schools that do not speak English first and there is full diversity. The demands are so high and it is so fundamental to get young children on the right track from the beginning. She said that there needs to be a teacher that is a full partner who knows the children. Mary H. Brookhart said that she has been a mentor in the CHCCS Blue Ribbon Mentor Advocacy Program since the girl she has been mentoring was in the fourth grade. The program has always been valuable. She said that the high school specialist is there for the students in crucial ways and actively nurtures leadership, responsibility, and academic excellence. She agreed to an increase in property taxes for these important issues. Jack Nestor spoke in support of the County school system. He is a parent of two children at Grady Brown Elementary. He said that once again the students, teachers, and parents of Orange County find that the County Manager is proposing a budget that will not allow any program or personnel expansion. Once again, the citizens of Orange County are asked to accept a budget increase that will barely cover state mandated salary increases; a budget that represents another year of the status quo in the County school system; another year of under funding. He said that the weakness of this budget proposal is all the more disturbing as it follows a year of school merger debate. This consistently highlighted the inequity in the funding mechanisms between the two school systems. Even Commissioner Gordon, a stalwart friend of the CHCCS district tax,