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to be in place and that the school collaboration group has made a lot of progress in moving <br />towards it. She would not like to abandon this work at this point. <br />Randy Copeland said that the OCS board was frustrated because Gravelly Hill's funding <br />had to be cut based on what the CHCCS middle school got three years ago. They were not <br />able to get water containment, day lighting, solar capability, etc. He said that a lot of people in <br />the rural part of the County would take the typical "box" school as long as it was safe, clean, and <br />as long as it had good staff, and they would be happy with it, but the constituents in Chapel Hill <br />would never stand for that. He said that he does not think they will ever see both school <br />systems getting the same, but if OCS was funded at the level of CHCCS, they would have <br />money running out their ears and nowhere to spend it. He said that there are two different <br />groups in the County and he does not believe that there will ever be equity far everybody, <br />because there will always be a group that is not happy. <br />Commissioner Gordon said that if you fully fund the OCS budget, the amount is a lot <br />different from the amount needed to make the budgets equal. Fully funding the OCS budget <br />would be about 4 cents on the tax rate, but equal would be about 17 cents, depending on the <br />year. She said that the reason you need to have a plan is that the OCS board would have to <br />say what it thinks is reasonable in terms of a target. She said that all three boards need to <br />discuss this. She said that she has never heard the CHCCS board say anything negative about <br />the OCS being funded as long as CHCCS is held harmless. All three boards need to reach an <br />agreement an equity. <br />Chair Jacobs said that he has heard the question of whether the school collaboration <br />meetings are of any value to the OCS, some interest in finishing the school construction <br />standards, some question about whether the school construction standards can be applied <br />equally, some difference of opinion about whether the issue of equity should be discussed at <br />the collaboration group meetings ar discussed by all three full boards. He said that it seems <br />that they could finish the school construction standards and then possibly the school <br />collaboration group could tackle programming ar equity. <br />Dennis Whitling said that he agreed with Commissioner Gordon that the CHCCS parents <br />at public hearings on the budget do support funds for OCS. He also agrees with the paint that <br />all three full boards need to get together to talk about funding in a 2-3 hour setting. He <br />suggested dealing with programmatic issues within the callabaration group. The new paradigm <br />items could also be part of the overall discussion. He said that August ar September should be <br />the time to discuss this, but that does not mean that something could not be done this budget <br />cycle in dealing with the equity situation. He said that something different needs to be done. <br />Commissioner Foushee agreed with Commissioner Gordon and Dennis Whitling and <br />said that she had hoped that this equity issue could have been resolved by now. She said that <br />it is incumbent upon them that some group - either a subset of all three boards ar the <br />collaboration group -begin some type of discussion to bring back to this full body an outline on <br />how to proceed with fair funding as opposed to equity. She said that they need to move beyond <br />talk and emotion. They all agree that there is a way. She hopes that they can identify a group <br />to take this on before the fall. <br />John Link offered that if the three governing bodies do discuss equity, then they need to <br />look at the numbers and how they affect all citizens. Both boards have asked for an increase <br />this year. He pointed out that they would have to talk about specifics. He said that if there were <br />some other revenue source besides property tax, it would probably generate some money that <br />would go a long way toward the issue of equity. <br />Mike Kelly agreed that equity should be discussed between the three full boards. He <br />asked the Board of County Commissioners, that during the budget cycle, that it send a clear <br />message to all why they make the decisions they make with the budget, especially the school <br />budgets. <br />