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He said that if the County Commissioners choose not to fund education at the level that is necessary to maintain current services, then they are choosing to make those cuts in services. He asked the County Commissioners to fund the schools at the level necessary to give the children the type of education they deserve. He is willing to pay more taxes to fund this. Mark Peters asked the Board of County Commissioners to adopt a new policy. He said that parents should not have to come by the hundreds every single budget year just to keep the school systems from having to lay off teachers and cancel programs. He said that programs should be continued from year to year. The budget should not start every year by going backwards and cutting school programs. The school budget should start like the County's budget this year, which keeps all the staff, gives them a possible pay increase, and hires new employees to keep up with growth. He said that this dichotomy troubles him. He suggested a "Schools Lose No Ground" ordinance, which would require the County Manager to propose a budget every year that continues programs that currently exist, even with growth. He then spoke on behalf of the PTA Council. He said that all of the PTA's in the district passed six positions, and one of the positions was in support of the Board of Education's budget. Kimberly Holzer is an 8th grade language arts teacher in CHCCS. She said that she was not enough for a new girl that came to her class this year and introduced herself as saying, "I'm stupid." The student told her that her mother moved here for the schools because the previous situation was an alternative school. The student told her that she was tired of being called stupid by her teachers, and was tired of being stupid. She said that it was clear that she was not enough for this student because she refused to read and kept walking out of the roam. She said that the reading specialist helped her and she stopped walking out of her room and passed the EOG. She said that she could not have done this by herself -there was a team of people behind this student, keeping her in school. She asked the County Commissioners to not take away the resources. Emily Kleisch is a student at the UNC nursing school and she works as a Nursing Assistant in the ER at UNC Hospital. She also volunteers with SHAK. She said that this has given her a unique perspective on the County's health care needs. She said that a lot of people are using the emergency roam for primary health care. This increases the costs of health care. She encouraged the County Commissioners to continue funding the Orange County Health Department's Primary Care Clinics. Chris Harlan is a public health nurse and is Vice-Chair of the Board of Health. She said that there are critical facility needs of the Health Department, there is a need to retain quality public health staff in the Health Department, and there is a globalization of the population in Orange County. She said that all residents of Orange County benefit from the work of the Health Department. She said that there is a real problem with inappropriate use of the emergency department at UNC Hospitals. She said that it is important that resources be committed at the levels necessary to ensure that services are provided. The staff also needs to be supported to make sure that they are justly compensated for the work that they do. She said that the Health Department must also ensure that all residents of Orange County have access to appropriate health and dental care. She said that the society made a commitment to universal public education over 100 years ago, and she is amazed that they have still not made the same commitment to health services in the society. Until this is done, the Health Department has to be a player in assuring the health of all citizens. Vince Wingate is a CHCCS parent. He said that Chair Carey had a plan to merge the school districts, and the problem is that the OCS does not want to pay more taxes, but the CHCCS will fund the schools. He said that people here want to fund the schools and the Board of County Commissioners insults the school boards each year. He said that this year has been the most egregious yet -because the County Commissioners expect CHCCS to open a new high school and a new elementary school without more funding. He said that the people in Chapel Hill want the County Commissioners to fund the schools properly.