Minutes - 20070531 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Aerin Benavides thanked the County Commissioners for the work they do for the community. She is President of the PTA Council for CHCCS. She is a widow with three children who moved here for the schools and to be near her sister. She said that she has two children on college scholarships. She said that education is the best gift to give your children. She said that the PTA voted on this and had an official referendum that says that they would like the County Commissioners to fully fund their schools. Carolyn Phillips has children in the OCS. She said that they have heard about the problems at Cameron Park and there are a lot of them. She said that she couldn't imagine losing the gifted teacher at Cameron Park. She said that they need to be adding new teachers and not cutting them. She appreciates all that the Board of County Commissioners does for the schools. She would like to be able to add teachers and make facilities safe. Kirstene Leysieffer asked the County Commissioners to please raise her taxes. She said that the OCS budget is based on 50% unfunded mandates by the State as well as the need to complete Gravelly Hill Middle School. She said that OCS has quality schools, but there are some disparities. She said that she has been attending school board meetings for the past month and a half and one of the goals of the Board of Education is for all schools to be equally appealing for all students and parents. She said that not funding at the requested level is a hardship on the schoals and on the school board to meet this goal. She also supports the real estate transfer tax. Jacky Kendrick is a parent of OCS children. She asked for full funding far bath school budgets. She said that she is going to make a sacrifice as a single parent and have her property taxes raised. She has already given up haircuts and highlights so that she can sponsor two kids in Colombia. She challenged all parents to give up eating an extra-large pizza every month or something similar to help pay for more taxes. Jane Frederick has four children in CHCCS. She said that she has been trying to explain to her children what is going on with the budget and why she is attending so many meetings. She asked the County Commissioners to say yes to new taxes because there is only the property tax to fund all services. Wendy Vavrousck is a parent of OCS children. She said that as long as there are two separate school systems the County Commissioners will have to fund two budgets. She said that each year the schools will need to fund State mandates. She said that she is willing to have her taxes raised to support education, but wants the County Commissioners to look at alternatives as well. She said that the proposed budget for OCS is not elaborate, but is a fiscally responsible plan. She said that the children are the future. She said that the degree to which the County invests in the schools directly correlates with the degree to which the County Commissioners truly believe that children really are the future. John Lau spoke about the short-term issues versus the long-term issues. He said that it is always more difficult to take something away from someone once they have it. He said that cutting the school budget is a short-term solution, but will have long-term affects. Taxes are always going to go up and he is willing to pay higher taxes in Orange County. He wants the best for the kids. Jack Haggerty spoke on behalf of the Chapel Hill High School Governance Commission. The Commission would like to ask the County Commissioners to fully fund the budget request of both school systems. He said that the investment in the schoals would benefit all citizens of the County. Debbie Werden is a parent of OCS children. She said that her child recently fell and suffered scrapes on the disintegrating track at Cameron Park, and so did two of his classmates on the same day. She said that they moved to Hillsborough so that her children could attend Cameron Park and have been thrilled with the teachers and staff. The school has many capital improvement needs. She said that one of her greatest concerns is the possible hiring freeze that could result in a kindergarten class size of 30 students, which would be a 35% increase at