Agenda - 06-21-2022; 8-a - Minutes

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16 1 Julie Werry thanked the Commissioners for their leadership. She asked the Board to 2 fully fund the budget requests for both school districts. She said she has two children attending 3 CHCCS, is a homeowner, and is also the PTA co-president at Rashkis Elementary School. She 4 said she and her husband chose to move their family to Chapel Hill in 2020 because of the 5 public school system. She said the number of people who have made the same decision is 6 amazing. She said with the growth happening across the state, especially in the RTP area, and 7 the ability of people to choose where they live given that remote work is here to stay, Orange 8 County continues to attract new residents due to the school systems' record for excellence. She 9 said the record is now being taken for granted, and over the past 10 months as PTA co- 10 president, she has seen the struggles going on in schools. She said Rashkis has operated short 11 staffed all year long and they are not alone given the record number of vacancies across the 12 district. She said jobs have remained unfilled due to budget constraints and the heroes left in 13 the building are asked to do the impossible. She said a secretary position at Rashkis was 14 posted for $12 an hour, which is less even than the going rate for a babysitter in her 15 neighborhood. She positions will not be filled at this pay scale, which means people in other 16 positions will have to pick up the duties. She said she recognizes the Commissioners have a 17 difficult job and many projects are worthy of funding without enough money to go around. She 18 thanked the Commissioners for the recommended per pupil increase they will likely support but 19 said that it is not enough. She said there are a record number of vacancies in the district and 20 said it is impossible to have excellent schools without the teachers and staff to run them. She 21 said schools are the bedrock of Orange County and attract an inflow of residents which 22 improves the tax base. She said schools are the greatest tool to leverage when thinking about 23 equity in our community. She said the county is not spending what it takes to maintain 24 excellence. 25 Cassie Ford thanked the Commissioners for their work in making Orange County a place 26 so many choose to live and build their families. She said she is the wife of a small business 27 owner, parent of two children, and PTA council president and strongly recommends the Board 28 fully fund the CHCCS and OCS budget requests including the expansion budget. She said after 29 graduating from UNC Chapel Hill, she chose to keep her family in Carrboro due to the 30 reputation of the public schools. She said this reputation cannot be taken for granted. She said 31 she was surprised to learn that Orange County allocates a much lower percentage of the annual 32 budget to education than surrounding counties. She said with the boom in remote work, people 33 have more choice about where they will live and work. She said if CHCCS and OCS continue to 34 suffer teacher losses and long stretches with open vacancies, the county will not be able to 35 continue attracting families and businesses due to its schools' reputations. She said she 36 recently learned that from the SLP and school psychologist at a CHCCS that they are not able 37 to fill many positions despite receiving approval to recruit for them. She said the district salaries 38 are well under the market rate compared to neighboring districts and nationally. She said she 39 appreciates that the recommended budget includes an increase per student, but it doesn't 40 address current need of schools. She said the state has mandated, but not funded, reduced 41 classroom sizes and teacher raises, and the continuation budget simply keeps up with these. 42 She said without the expansion budget being funded, schools will continue to pay below market 43 rates, have positions unfilled, understaffed classrooms, and underserved students. She asked 44 the Board to allocate some of the revenue growth Travis Myren spoke about to fully fund the 45 CHCCS and OCS budgets including both continuation and expansion budget requests. 46 Caroline Wang said she is an 8th grader at Smith Middle School and has been part of the 47 CHCCS community since kindergarten. She said she and her peers remember and have been 48 impacted by every teacher they have learned from. She asked the Board to fully fund the 49 CHCCS budget. She said teachers impact the education of hundreds and even thousands of 50 students, are incredibly important to the community, and encourage students. She said CHCCS 51 are below market rate locally and nationally. She said she has seen many teachers work hard