Agenda - 05-19-20; 8-a - Minutes

Browse Search

28 1 Commissioner McKee said a poll would be useless because both sides of the conversation 2 would mobilize residents to come out in opposition. He said to put a referendum on the 3 November ballot for an OCS district tax, and that would serve as the poll. 4 Chair Rich said is it that the County needs to bring all up to 1977, or bring it down to a 5 more reasonable amount to allow for equity. 6 Commissioner McKee said the numbers he is using is bringing every student up to what 7 CHCCS currently spends per pupil. 8 Chair Rich said the question remains of does it cost $2000 more per student to educate 9 students in CHCCS, as opposed to OCS. 10 Commissioner McKee said that is the true question: what does it cost to educate a student 11 in Orange County. He said it will be as hard to sell a reduction in the special district tax to 12 CHCCS parents, as it would to sell an increase in taxes to the OCS parents. He said there is no 13 doubt that inequity exists, but there is also the perception of it. He said the bottom line is that the 14 people in Chapel Hill implemented a tax for themselves, and OCS did not. He said there would 15 be a huge tax increase if the Board tries to balance this by going to the CHCCS funding level. 16 Commissioner Bedford said there should be federal funding for all children to receive an 17 education. She said in 2006 both school districts agreed on issues about taxes not forcing people 18 to move, and serving children fairly. She said in 2005 Davenport did a study on ways to share 19 costs between the school districts, and some changes were made to the tune of significant 20 savings. She said some recommendations were not implanted such as teacher training being 21 done collaboratively with teachers from both districts, as well as allowing high school students to 22 go between the two districts. She said there was a recommendation to raise taxes to go 23 exclusively to schools, but the 2007-2008 recession occurred. She said the republican majority 24 in the GA has consistently cut funding to schools, and one option would be to change to 25 percentage of the County budget that is allocated to schools, but with Covid-19 there are going to 26 be great basic needs in the County. 27 Commissioner Bedford said when people move to Chapel Hill they move there a lot of 28 those times because of the school district. She said she chose a very small home in order to have 29 her daughter in CHCCS schools, due to her special needs. 30 Commissioner Bedford said the group in 2006 cautioned against a special district tax as it 31 is focused on the residents in a particular area, as opposed to the entire County, and areas in rural 32 Orange County are not the same as CHCCS. She said economic development may change this. 33 Commissioner Bedford said a survey is a good idea, and the school boards could also be 34 asked for input. She said if residents favor a tax raise, it is easy to do through incremental 35 changes in the ad valorem tax. 36 Commissioner Dorosin said there would not be cuts if you raise the ad valorem, and cut 37 the district tax. 38 Commissioner Bedford said CHCCS has many more children with special needs, and is 39 using more of its special district tax to fund pre-K students. 40 Commissioner Dorosin said it is a chicken and egg situation, and people want to live in 41 CHCCS because there are good schools, but there are good schools because there is more money. 42 Commissioner Bedford said she hopes EC education is strong in both districts. She said 43 people move to CHCCS for the schools, but also the university and the medical centers.