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2 <br /> a. Matters not on the Printed Agenda <br /> Sally Merryman, Chapel Hill-Carrboro Association of Educators, reviewed the following <br /> comments: <br /> May 10, 2020 <br /> Board of County Commissioners <br /> 300 W. Tryon St. <br /> Whitted Bldg. Rm 220 <br /> Hillsborough, NC 27278 <br /> Dear Members of the Board of County Commissioners: <br /> As you noted many times throughout last week's presentations, the people feeding, counseling, <br /> and teaching this community in the midst of this crisis -- along with frontline and other equally <br /> essential workers -- are its educators. <br /> The budget the CHCCS Board of Education presented to you is our district's most pro-public <br /> education budget in at least a decade. It is one where resources are rightly focused on all <br /> personnel - classified and well as certified -- and doing right by them. It makes no mention <br /> of consultants or pilots promoted by anti-educator legislators. <br /> To be clear, we are supporting a budget that does what is morally right by providing living <br /> wages and hiring more educators and TAs to teach our children. It also provides resources to <br /> allow educators to remain safe in their homes and get paid when bad weather hits or school <br /> closings once again necessitate educators being teachers and parents at the same time. <br /> These past two months could not have happened without paid family leave. <br /> It was disappointing to hear you speak so eloquently about living wages in the abstract during <br /> Q&A and then tell our most vulnerable education professionals that the BOCC may not fund <br /> what it states its values are. Yes, revenues are uncertain, and resources are tighter than <br /> planned, yet what is really missing is courage. <br /> Last year, while you did increase school funding, the increase didn't even cover CHCCS's <br /> continuation budget ask. And what CHCCS asked for then -- educator benefits -- it continues to <br /> request now. Yet somehow you have already found funding to provide your own county <br /> employees some of these very same benefits. While we don't begrudge the county employees <br /> these benefits, the employees of the local schools also deserve them too. <br /> More disconcerting, though, is even after a local election where it was clear the electorate <br /> wants commissioners who they believe will fund our schools, some BOCC members appear <br /> unwilling to reconsider their own mindsets to find ways to increase that funding and trust that <br /> the public will thank and back you for those efforts. Clearly more conversation is needed, and <br /> we are looking forward to having it. <br /> In the coming days and weeks, we will introduce you to educators, parents, students -- many of <br /> whom are Orange County taxpayers and voters. They will make it perfectly clear: there is <br /> nothing inconsistent with saying we want our schools to be funded even if it means raising <br />