Minutes 05-10-2022 Budget Public Hearing and Work Session

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16 achievement gap, and the school system is in a worse position than ever in this respect. She echoed others' comments that the most vulnerable students are feeling the worst impacts of the lack of qualified teachers available to support them. She said If Orange County truly values equity and supporting most vulnerable, it's time to put money where its mouth is, otherwise comments about closing the achievement gap is empty noise. Julie Werry thanked the Commissioners for their leadership. She asked the Board to fully fund the budget requests for both school districts. She said she has two children attending CHCCS, is a homeowner, and is also the PTA co-president at Rashkis Elementary School. She said she and her husband chose to move their family to Chapel Hill in 2020 because of the public school system. She said the number of people who have made the same decision is amazing. She said with the growth happening across the state, especially in the RTP area, and the ability of people to choose where they live given that remote work is here to stay, Orange County continues to attract new residents due to the school systems' record for excellence. She said the record is now being taken for granted, and over the past 10 months as PTA co- president, she has seen the struggles going on in schools. She said Rashkis has operated short staffed all year long and they are not alone given the record number of vacancies across the district. She said jobs have remained unfilled due to budget constraints and the heroes left in the building are asked to do the impossible. She said a secretary position at Rashkis was posted for $12 an hour, which is less even than the going rate for a babysitter in her neighborhood. She positions will not be filled at this pay scale, which means people in other positions will have to pick up the duties. She said she recognizes the Commissioners have a difficult job and many projects are worthy of funding without enough money to go around. She thanked the Commissioners for the recommended per pupil increase they will likely support but said that it is not enough. She said there are a record number of vacancies in the district and said it is impossible to have excellent schools without the teachers and staff to run them. She said schools are the bedrock of Orange County and attract an inflow of residents which improves the tax base. She said schools are the greatest tool to leverage when thinking about equity in our community. She said the county is not spending what it takes to maintain excellence. Cassie Ford thanked the Commissioners for their work in making Orange County a place so many choose to live and build their families. She said she is the wife of a small business owner, parent of two children, and PTA council president and strongly recommends the Board fully fund the CHCCS and OCS budget requests including the expansion budget. She said after graduating from UNC Chapel Hill, she chose to keep her family in Carrboro due to the reputation of the public schools. She said this reputation cannot be taken for granted. She said she was surprised to learn that Orange County allocates a much lower percentage of the annual budget to education than surrounding counties. She said with the boom in remote work, people have more choice about where they will live and work. She said if CHCCS and OCS continue to suffer teacher losses and long stretches with open vacancies, the county will not be able to continue attracting families and businesses due to its schools' reputations. She said she recently learned that from the SLP and school psychologist at a CHCCS that they are not able to fill many positions despite receiving approval to recruit for them. She said the district salaries are well under the market rate compared to neighboring districts and nationally. She said she appreciates that the recommended budget includes an increase per student, but it doesn't address current need of schools. She said the state has mandated, but not funded, reduced classroom sizes and teacher raises, and the continuation budget simply keeps up with these. She said without the expansion budget being funded, schools will continue to pay below market rates, have positions unfilled, understaffed classrooms, and underserved students. She asked the Board to allocate some of the revenue growth Travis Myren spoke about to fully fund the CHCCS and OCS budgets including both continuation and expansion budget requests.