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Lorenzo Mesia is a CHCCS parent. He requested the County Commissioners to raise his taxes to fully fund the schools. He quoted several references that say that higher school performance affects property values positively. Gary Feng is a CHCCS parent. He said that tonight's message is loud and clear. He asked the County Commissioners to please fully fund the school system. Eileen McWlliam asked the County Commissioners to fully fund both school districts' budgets. She is the parent Co-Chair of the SGC at Frank Porter Graham Elementary School. She presented a petition from aver 100 parents at FPG who support full funding of both budgets. She said that she makes this request with the most gratitude for the County Commissioners' valiant efforts to grapple with the competing needs fairly. She believes that the struggle for equity is a noble one, but she fears that it underlies the reluctance to raise taxes in a counterproductive way. The struggle for equity takes place at the school level, the district level, and the County level. She said that the solution is surely not to under-fund all schoals equally. She said that this is not the year to take a stand on taxes. The State has mandated a raise in teacher's pay and CHCCS is opening a new high school. There is no choice but to pay these additional casts, and the district tax needs to be raised to do this. Matthew Davis is a CHCCS parent and said that he is here to support both school systems. He said that the teachers deserve their pay raises. He said that the budget documents do not talk about morale of the children. He asked the County Commissioners to think about morale for bath the children and the teachers. He said that there needs to be some accountability. He asked the County Commissioners what the schools could do to show that they are being accountable. Tom Barth said that his child starts kindergarten in the fall, hopefully in the dual language program. This program has received national acclaim, and yet it could be cut. He said that to fully fund the schools would be only a very modest increase. He said that we should get over the hump this year and think about controlling the growth in the future. JB Hue said that he came to Chapel Hill for UNC and then he realized that he also came here because of the schoals. He said that he decided to stay, even though he has opportunities to leave, because of the schools. He thanked the County Commissioners for making the schoals the best and he asked that they keep doing it. He thinks that this area is the capital of education in the State. He is willing to have his taxes raised. Mary Wolff is a CHCCS parent and a volunteer at the schools. She said that she cannot believe that the two options presented - to cut school programs and teachers, or to raise taxes -are the only two options to this budget crisis. She resents feeling that the County is holding her children's education hostage for a tax increase. She wants more choices. She said that the County Commissioners should identify all of the programs and budget increases that they are considering approving that are not part of the schools' budget; then she would like for them to come up with a budget that fully funds the necessary required expenses of the schools; then identify other expenses and programs that may be reduced, delayed, or eliminated to balance the budget so that there is little ar no need for a tax increase. She understands that the County Commissioners have raised taxes every year for the past 18 years. She does not believe that any community can sustain itself with a tax increase every year. Liz Grabill is a CHCCS parent. She said that she and her husband are both attorneys. She said that maintaining the current request of the Superintendent may not be sufficient, particularly far the best and brightest. She is particularly disturbed because the budget cuts will disproportionately impact the elementary schoals. She suggested that instead of fully funding the schools, that they spend even more. She said that she came from Maryland, where they spend about $8,000 per child. She does not feel that $2,957 is much. She is facing a personal dilemma about whether to stay here or to move somewhere else and put her children in private schools. She said that the property values will not continue going up if the quality of education goes down.