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fully fund both schools' requested budgets. She understands that the Board does not decide haw the money is allocated ar dispersed, but she hopes that the County Commissioners will understands that without enough funds given to education, some of the current students will be drains on society throughout their adult lives. She said that all children should be given every opportunity to meet their full potential and have successful and productive lives. Anna Mercer McLean spoke about early childhood education. She supports the Orange County Child Care Coalition request to fund $50,000 for the public/private match and that the matching funds be reduced far child care providers, and that the County continue to invest $100,000 to support low-income families who need child care. She also asked for a way to make health care accessible to childcare providers through Orange County because the cost is so high for them through their own funding source. She said that she left packets for the County Commissioners regarding the Orange High School tennis courts. For the last three years, people have been advocating for the renovation of the tennis courts, and the request is $150,000 for the Orange High tennis courts. She presented a petition of 103 people who want to see these courts redone. Teresa Clark serves on the Advocacy Committee of the Special Needs Advisory Council. She said that whenever there are budget cuts, programs for exceptional children and special needs are usually the first ones to get cut. She said that in her grandson's class this year, at the beginning of the year, there were three children who could not write because they had special needs. At the end of the year, all of these children could write legibly. She asked the County Commissioners where they would be if they could not read or write. She said that this area is a lighthouse and there are people who move here because of the schools. Andrea Fleming is an OCS parent. She agreed with Mark Peters' comment that this budget should be a "Schools Lase No Ground" budget. She would love to see the school systems moving forward. She said that the requested budget did not include luxuries. Many of the requests will simply compound if they are not addressed this year. She said that her family chose to move here from Wake County mainly because of the schools and quality of life. She asked the County Commissioners to please fully fund the schools' budget requests. Alison Kaltz is an OCS parent. She requested full funding of the OCS budget. She said that anything less than full funding is a disservice to the children, teachers, additional school support staff, and the community. She is in favor of a tax increase in order to pay for the budget. She is a parent of a disabled child who receives support from the school system. Charlie Buckner is a CHCCS parent. He asked for full funding of the schools. He asked the County Commissioners to lead the process to develop alonger-term plan for school funding. He said that along-term perspective might help the districts plan more efficiently and help alleviate this annual panic. Linda Bowerman is a CHCCS parent. She said that it is good to see that the County Commissioners realize that high taxes are a burden for the fixed income seniors. However, this budget affects every person in the County, not just retired people living on fixed incomes. She said that if the Manager's recommended budget is approved, aver 100 people are slated to lose their jobs in the CHCCS system alone. She said that for all the work going into helping the working poor and the middle class, this budget represents the very antithesis of that ideal. She said that supporting this budget as written is a vote to cut the jobs of the very people we all want to keep in the community. She said that this budget is being balanced on the backs of the wonderful hard-working staff of our local schools. She said that the price will be paid by the children, who will no longer have the quality education that Orange County is known for. Neil Jones is an OCS parent. He said that he was at the last public hearing and it was pretty much clear-cut that citizens are willing to have taxes raised for education, but there were a few people that were not in favor of having taxes raised. He made reference to the statement by Commissioner Jacobs that the County Commissioners allocate a lump sum to the school boards to fund the schools. He said that he conducted an unofficial poll of parents and teachers