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25 <br /> This is going to help bus drivers, custodians, and cafeteria workers - the essential <br /> workers that fed us, delivered food, and kept schools and buses clean and safe for students <br /> and staff. Is zero dollars for them really your response to our community's heroes? This <br /> budgetary investment is not only vital for the people earning this salary, for their physical, <br /> mental, and emotional well-being, but it is also important for our local economy. Money earned <br /> in our community by school employees will support local businesses and generate tax income <br /> for the county when these same employees spend money in the community. If we feel that a <br /> living wage is important for other people in our community, shouldn't school employees be <br /> afforded this same basic living wage? <br /> How can Orange County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools (CHCCS) afford to <br /> increase the pay of its lowest paid employees? It would require the county to raise the budget <br /> for schools. I urge you to strongly consider increasing the funds allocated for public schools in <br /> Orange County to make this a reality. This increase will only strengthen the citizens and <br /> businesses of our community. Thank you for your time and consideration. <br /> Hope Hynes Love said she is an educator with CHCCS, and is here this evening to <br /> express gratitude for the many ways local government has supported educators during this past <br /> year, allowing schools to provide uninterrupted educational services for Orange County <br /> Students. She said she is looking towards in-person instruction resuming, and urged the Board <br /> to look at past history and once again shoulder the burden of covering the gap caused by the <br /> State's per pupil spending. She asked the Board to restore the County's education allotment to <br /> 50% of the general fund, the same as 2018-2019 level. She said this change, along the third <br /> wave of federal support, would make up for the nearly $1,000 decrease in per pupil spending <br /> created by the General Assembly's pattern of reductions in school funding. She said the <br /> County's help will strengthen the districts' resolve to lobby state representatives to increase <br /> funding for all counties in the state, so that local boards and taxpayers are not faced, year after <br /> year, with figuring out how to pay for the kinds of schools all students in North Carolina should <br /> have access to. She thanked the Board and community for working together, and said she is <br /> honored to be educating the next generation of leaders. <br /> Sally Merryman read the following statement: <br /> Good evening, my name is Sally Merryman. I am a 24-year veteran teacher in Chapel <br /> Hill and the current president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Association of Educators. I am also a <br /> homeowner in rural Orange County, and my husband and I are both informed voters. <br /> I'm here tonight to urge you to increase the per pupil spending for both school systems <br /> in Orange County and to raise the local district tax for Chapel Hill-Carrboro. <br /> CHCCS has already used the earlier disbursements from the American Rescue Plan <br /> Act. And now it's time for you, our elected county officials, to allocate the latest ARPA <br /> installment of$28 million. Funding our schools is your biggest responsibility, yet you are <br /> currently allocating less than 50% of the county budget to our public schools. We thank <br /> Commissioner Hamilton for her proposed budget amendment to allocate $3 million to the 2 <br /> school districts. We fully support this amendment and still urge you to increase the county's <br /> overall funding of public schools by at least 1% to return to previous funding levels. <br /> If the county fails to allocate more money to our schools, CHCCS will be forced to make <br /> potentially disastrous cuts in other areas in order to implement a fully virtual academy for the <br /> 2021-2022 school year for students who need to remain remote, additional counselors, mental <br /> health professionals, and other mental health resources, and wage increases for classified staff <br /> to bring everyone to a living wage. <br /> Regarding wage increases for classified staff, the commission has directed county- <br /> funded entities to provide a living wage to all employees. CHCCS is making commendable <br />