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Commissioner Gordan said that she had misgivings about going outside the per pupil funding and that it could cut into the school board's authority. As she read the letters from the school boards, her misgivings increased. She thinks that the most straightforward way to address the item of equity is to use the per pupil mechanism and allow the school boards to have their traditional authority. She said that it would be better for them to respect the school baards' authority and to raise the per pupil to cover their expenses. If the Board does decide to go outside the per pupil funding, then it should be kept to the traditional county functions of health and social services, which would involve positions such as nurses, Student Resource Officers (SROs) and social workers. She said that, if they do this over time, they may cut the school baards' authority and this could be dangerous. She said that if the County Commissioners want to discuss this, she suggests they venture carefully outside the per pupil funding, if they decide to do this at all. Commissioner Foushee said that she would like to entertain the opportunity to keep the discussion open for the possibility of funding health and safety issues outside the per pupil funding. She is struggling with how to move the discussian forward because of the defeat of the referendum of the OCS. She has a question about how to talk about providing additional resources without levying additional taxes. If they are going to talk about increasing the per pupil allocation, then this brings to mind the opportunity to look at Commissioner Cordon's proposal about a supplemental tax. She said that the funding cannot be separated out of the discussian of defining equity. Commissioner Carey asked about the tax that Commissioner Foushee was referring to and if it was a countywide tax and Commissioner Foushee said yes, it was a countywide supplemental tax. Commissioner Gordon said that it was equivalent to an ad valorem tax and both school systems would have to agree. There would still have to be a referendum. It would still be a tax increase. Commissioner Halkiotis said that he visited the Chapel Hill newspaper website recently and now over 3,000 people had voted in the survey about a district tax, and 89°~ of people voted yes, that the people in the southern end of the County would support a district tax for the OCS. He said that this is nothing new. He said that bonds have always been supported by the southern part of the County. He said that there would have to be a tax somewhere. Chair Jacobs said that there has been a downward slope where the State is providing less and less money for schools and the counties are providing more and more money for schools. He said that Commissioner Gordan had asked about information about outside agency funding for school children and they need this again. He said that, by his recollection, four County Commissioners had proposed countywide supplemental school taxes for funding. He said that he knew that the people in one school system could essentially dictate to the other school system if it were put to a countywide vote, and it was a somewhat disingenuous way to accomplish raising taxes. Chair Jacobs said that his sense of the advantage of going outside the per pupil is to be able to fund bath school systems equally. He said that he also remembers that when they had the discussion about nurses that it was pointed out that the OCS had traditionally funded nurses more than the CHCCS. This is the school system that falls shorter in funding its total budget. He said that outside the per pupil funding could work and he would like to see the contract they do have with the nurses. He said if they went this way, it would take three boards to change it. If everyone could agree to stick with health, safety, and welfare, then it could be funded outside of the per pupil. This would free up money for both school systems to apply to other educational purposes. He suggested that they have a venue where the chairs and the vice-chairs of the three boards meet with a mediator and discuss if there is any agreement an funding outside the per pupil on nurses, SROs, etc. If there is interest, then they could look at a contract and bring