Agenda 09-03-19 Item 8-a - Minutes

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10 1 the schools. She said the committee found that residents are happy with the schools overall, 2 and residents of northern Orange County were unwilling to pay as much as the residents in the 3 CHCCS district. She said it is not just an issue of where people can afford to live. She said 4 CHCCS has 27% free and reduced lunch, and even undocumented people will find ways to live 5 in the district to access the education. She said she lives in a 1500 square foot ranch in 6 CHCCS because that is what she could afford, and needed to be CHCCS to best meet the 7 needs of her child with autism. She said CHCCS has 600% more special education and autistic 8 children than the state would predict or expect. She said all of these variables must be 9 considered. 10 Commissioner Bedford said this is not the year to do this proposed amendment, as the 11 BOCC is not even fully funding the CHCCS continuation budget. She said the Manager's 12 proposed increase will fund the OCS continuation budget, but not the expansion budget. She 13 said she believes the district tax to be fair if the Board is fully funding the needs of OCS 14 students, and those are needs are determined by the democratically elected OCS school board, 15 and the willingness of the OCS taxpayers to pay. She said she sees no problem, if residents 16 want to pay more for the "extras". She said the districts have collaborated well, and there is 17 room for more growth in the future. 18 Commissioner Bedford said the County also does not need to call attention from the 19 General Assembly (GA) until after the 2020 elections. She said the district tax has been in 20 place since 1909, and the GA can abolish it instantly. 21 Commissioner Greene said she respected Commissioner Dorosin' proposal, and agrees 22 with the need to discuss the question of equity, but Commissioner Marcoplos is making a good 23 point that there is a bigger conversation that needs to take place. She said she is not sure what 24 the parents in OCS feels about the schools and additional taxes, and maybe the Board needs to 25 reengage this conversation. 26 Commissioner Price said she liked this proposal, but it is too early for the Board to make 27 a decision tonight, and the school boards need to be involved in discussion. She said the Board 28 does need to do something about the inequity, and the landscape has changed since 2006 and 29 thus an updated conversation is warranted. She said it has always been strange to her to have 30 two school districts vying for the same funding. 31 Chair Rich said Commissioner Dorosin has been trying for years to find an equitable way 32 to fund the schools. She said she has heard from people that live in the County who are not in 33 favor of this. She said it is time to engage the parents of OCS, and to find out what their focus 34 is. She would like to bring this question to the school collaboration. 35 Commissioner Dorosin said he appreciated the Board's remarks, but he will insist that 36 this conversation keep going, and to reevaluate the needs and the changing demographics in 37 OCS. He said the Board must make this a more critical issue, especially due to the increase of 38 low-income and ESL students in OCS and the "white flight" to charter schools. 39 Commissioner Dorosin said the per pupil allocation from the County would go up for both 40 school districts. He said in CHCCS, with the reduction in the special district tax, the total per 41 pupil for CHCCS would stay the same. He said the OCS per pupil would go up. He agreed 42 getting information from residents is important, but wonders if the Board really thinks it costs 43 $2000 more in one district, as opposed to another district. He said he did not think so, but the 44 Board needs to justify this to all residents in the County. 45 46 A motion was made by Commissioner Dorosin to approve Amendments 003, 004, 005, 47 006. 48 NO SECOND 49 50 MOTION FAILS 51