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This is a very simple situation. It comes down to whether the county residents want to pay more <br />school tax or not. <br />We favor small school districts and local control. <br />We favor any taxation mechanism where the county school board can voluntarily choose to tax <br />and fund at the same level as the city district on a year-to-year basis if they so desire. We are <br />opposed to any mechanism that harms the city district when the county board decides to tax <br />less. <br />For this reason, we oppose, and believe that city district voters will oppose, any mechanism that <br />automatically sets the city district tax to zero. This is a real concern with a countywide district <br />tax because the commissioners cannot set a rate higher than the lowest requested amount from <br />the two school boards. Thus, one school board can choose a lower tax and harm the other <br />school system. <br />In the case of the countywide tax, if the county school board chooses to tax at the same level as <br />the city district, then the city district tax will be zero. If the county school board attempts to <br />lower funding of the city schools, then this attempt can be thwarted by levying the city district <br />tax. This is the essence of local control. <br />The decision to tax the county district for higher school funding should be the responsibility of <br />the county school board and the BOCC should let the county district voters choose school <br />board members who hold the same taxation values. <br />US census data indicates that the county overall has a higher per capita and higher median <br />income than Chapel Hill residents. The census also states that Chapel Hill has a higher poverty <br />level than the county district. This completely debunks the myth that county residents are <br />unable to pay their share of any increased OCS funding. <br />Let's not forget the capital side of funding. In the last year, the county school district has <br />benefited by a retiring a huge amount of the Cedar Ridge debt that, as a result, left the city <br />district with basically no pay as you go capital funding. The city district is seriously hurting for <br />capital money and the county district has lots of capital money. <br />In closing, local control is the key. The only way OCS can have higher funding is if they step up <br />to the plate and choose higher taxes. No matter what solution is chosen, it is OCS taxes that <br />will be raised. City district residents are already paying the tax. <br />Thank you. <br />Keith Cook said that Orange County residents need to have the opportunity to vote for <br />this. He said that the people that he represents do not want to merge or have a countywide <br />district tax. He is in favar of additional money for OCS. With the three-year plan, OCS would <br />have $6 million. They do not need this much money. He is in favor of ten cents. He said that <br />things would never be equal. He would like to vote on a referendum. <br />Dennis Whitling is a member of the OCS Board and he handed out questions that he <br />had given to staff earlier. He made reference to the letter from the CHCCS Board and said that <br />they received about 99°~ of their funding this year. OCS has not yet finalized their budget <br />because they are still struggling with the cuts that need to be made because they received less <br />