Agenda - 02-17-2015 - 6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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13 1 Steve Marshall thanked the Board for their past support and their current help. He said 2 the art wing at Carrboro High School has become a home for many kids, including his son. He 3 said his son will go to the School of the Arts next year to begin his education in theater arts as a 4 result of the education he has received in the public schools. 5 Michele Smith is a parent of a child in the CHCCS. She said she does not make a lot of 6 money, but she stays here because of the schools. She is afraid the schools will lose teachers, 7 and this will affect her child. The teachers are being asked to do more with less, and this is not 8 fair. She asked the Board to fully fund the schools. 9 David Schwartz is a resident of Chapel Hill, a product of the CHCCS, and parent of a 10 child there. He asked the Board to fully fund the schools' requested budget. He said he wished 11 the schools would be more ambitious in asking for money, so that there would not be a need for 12 so many fundraisers. He said he hoped the Board would prioritize any tax increments received 13 back from the re-development of Ephesus Fordham area to be dedicated first to the schools. 14 Elizabeth Losos said she is a parent of two students, and she supports fully funding the 15 schools. She works internationally, and she sees many other countries that are putting more 16 money into education. She said this is an opportunity to stay at the top in funding education. 17 18 PUBLIC COMMENTS SENT IN VIA EMAIL 19 20 From: Ken and Charlotte Pearce 21 Phone Number: 919-969-8119 22 Message: 23 Dear Orange County Commissioners, 24 25 We are writing to express concern over the proposed funding to the Chapel Hill Carrboro City 26 Schools system for the upcoming year. When we moved here 16 years ago, we picked the 27 Chapel Hill/Carrboro area because of the excellent reputation of its schools. Having excellent 28 schools drives the economy and makes people want to live and work in the area. It is 29 heartbreaking to see the hits to education that have occurred recently in our state. We would 30 gladly support an increase in taxes and efficient use of the funds to support our schools 31 adequately. We strongly recommend funding CHCCS at the full amount proposed by the 32 superintendent and school board. Thank you for your consideration and we look forward to the 33 discussion this week on the budget. 34 35 Sincerely, 36 Ken and Charlotte Pearce 37 38 39 Dear Orange County Commissioners: 40 41 I am writing to ask that you fully fund the requested per-pupil allocation for the Chapel Hill 42 Carrboro Schools in the 2014-15 Orange County budget. I understand that this involves a 43 significant increase over the County Manager's recommended $95 per pupil allocation. 44 45 I live in the Chapel Hill Carrboro School district and have a seven-year old who attends Morris 46 Grove Elementary. Last year I was disheartened that our Governor and state legislature opted 47 to permanently cut so much funding for our public schools. Now, I have learned that the 48 Governor's recent proposal for a teacher raise is to be funded by further cuts to education in 49 other areas (like the UNC system and teacher assistant support), and by shifting certain other 50 costs from state responsibility to local schools. 51