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commented that we need to get more money for the County schools. He said that a school system needs to be vibrant and it cannot flounder and stall. He said that this is a great opportunity for the County Commissioners to demonstrate their commitment to the County schools, to the superintendent, teachers, and students. He urged the Board to fund the Orange County school budget in full. Arlene Furman is a parent of two children in the OCS. She was shocked and dismayed by the County Manager's proposed increase of 4% for the Orange County schools. It seems as if the arguments, pleas, and proposals delivered during the merger debate over the past year fell upon deaf ears. The current budget proposal perpetuates and aggravates the funding inequity that sparked the merger debate to begin with. Orange County's teachers, staff, and students deserve more. With the current proposal, they barely meet the mandates. She said that under funding from the past few years has depleted any reserve funds they once enjoyed. The Orange County system is continually required to operate under the anxious threat of personnel and program cuts. She was hopeful and impressed this year by the expansion items presented by the Orange County School Board. She asked the County Commissioners to reconsider the County Manager's budget proposal and figure out away -possibly lowering the Chapel Hill district tax, because by increasing the district tax, it decreases the amount of money that Orange County can get. James Henninger spoke for the OCS primarily. He is a small businessman. He said that 9/11 hit his business hard, and he learned what happens when you go under budget year after year. The first thing that happens is that you eat up the cash reserves. He thinks this is happening in the County school system. The next thing is that maintenance is put off. This will cast more in the long run. After that, it gets dire and employee benefits are cut. Every year that his son has been in middle school, he has lost some of his best teachers to surrounding districts. He said that it is like the County district is a minor league for the surrounding districts. He said that eventually, budget shortfalls affect product quality. The children are not products and numbers that are crunched; they are the moral obligation of the community. He said that Orange County parents had hoped, through the merger discussions, that this year things would get better and that maybe the gap would begin to lessen. He asked the Board to look at the children other than just as numbers. Susan Houck said that she is dismayed that the budget proposal does not even begin to reverse the 34 percent funding disparity. She said that holding the district tax level is good, but it really needs to go down. She said, to the Chapel Hill parents that requested an increase in the district tax, that she appreciates that they want to increase funding for their schools, but it adversely affects the County. She invited these parents to request that the tax go dawn and the property tax go up proportionately. This would be a win- win situation for both school districts. The question over the past year has not been whether to merge or not, but the inequity so that OCS can finally move forward -pay teachers what they deserve, provide foreign language in elementary schools, start an IB program, hire needed social workers and teacher assistants. With the current formula, the disparity has grown from five percent to 34 percent in the past ten years. She understands the methodology for the per pupil funding, but the County has a unique situation with the district tax. In actuality, they are not receiving equal per pupil funding since the County Commissioners set both the district tax and the state mandated per pupil funding. It is time to be creative and do something different.