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about this comment and everyone said that it sounds like the accountability is on the schools and not the Board of County Commissioners. He asked the County Commissioners if they were willing to accept responsibility and be accountable for doing the right thing. Teresa Edwards is an OCS parent. She said that it may be true that the Orange County schools are rated highest in the State, but the State ranks low overall. She said that she wants the students to be competitive on national and international levels, and not just within the State borders. She said that OCS is not asking for alot -they just want warm water in the bathrooms, they want to retain teachers, etc. She said that it is not acceptable that the citizens have to go through all of this drama every year for these same issues. She said that she reviewed the OCS budget and she did not see any fat on it. She asked the County Commissioners to fund the schools this year and spend the next several months focusing on long-term solutions so that the citizens do not have to come back next year asking for the same things. Will Owens thanked all of the County Commissioners and said that they must be crazy to run for office. He said that almost any solution to the budget will certainly have an adverse affect on same groups in this County. He is an OCS parent and he asked the County Commissioners to fully fund the school system's budget as requested. He said that to not do so will force the school board to cut many vital teaching assistants and slash important student oriented services. He asked the County Commissioners to raise his taxes and to also look at ways to balance the local tax base. He asked the Board to avoid redundancy in doing business in this County the same old ways. Miranda Danku is an OC5 parent. She asked the County Commissioners to fully fund the school budget by increasing taxes. She said that not funding the schools will have an adverse affect on the community at-large. She said that right now less than half of students that speak English as a second language are able to receive ESL services because the teacher is shared with two other Orange County schools. She asked the County Commissioners to keep the big picture in mind. Eric Davis said that he is again asking for full funding for both school districts. He said that it is imperative that his child has a quality education. He said that he understands that the County Commissioners have to take care of a lot of people and especially those on fixed incomes. The County Commissioners need to be creative in their thinking. He said that the education of children in Orange County is the greatest need at this time and that the people are not fussing at the County Commissioners, but at the process. He said that for right now, the taxes should be raised, but at some point there will be a ceiling on this, so there should be some creative thinking. Victoria Krebs is a CHCCS parent. She said that they moved from Knoxville, Tennessee two years ago and decided to buy a house in Chapel Hill because of the schools. She said that if the school budget does not get funded, then it will discourage teachers from applying in Chapel Hill, it will further overwork the present teachers, and it will begin the downward spiral of the school systems. She said that CHCCS has a national reputation now for being phenomenal. It is really hard to rebuild a reputation. She is happy to pay more taxes to fund the schools. Vern Miller is from northern Orange County and said that people in the County are not downtrodden or poor, but they are regular folks that do not make a lot of money, and there are a lot of them. He said that they do not drive expensive cars or take lavish vacations. He said that these people have been paying taxes for a long time and they were born here. He said that longevity should account for something. He said that he does not want his taxes raised. He said that it seems that there should be a process for those that want to have their taxes raised, to open an account far the school systems and let people donate money to the school systems.