The Daily Tar HeelThursday, March 17, 1 9885 v Officials request parity irt tfojurodiog for local education? By LAURA DiGIANO Assistant City Editor The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce has issued a statement calling for equal funding of both the city and county school systems. The statement asks the Orange County Board of Commissioners to "strive for parity between the two systems" in Orange County. In the 1987-88 budget, the per pupil allocation from local funding was $87 1 for both city and county schools. But the Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools received an additional $553 per student from a district tax levied only on residents whose children attend the city schools." "The Chapel Hill-Carrboro com munity places a very high value on education and they are willing to provide for a better school system out of their own pockets," said Kim Hoke, assistant superintendent of Chapel Hill-Carrboro city schools. The additional funds are used to provide teacher aides, guidance counselors, art, music and physical education instructors, and programs for exceptional children, Hoke said. Food . The money also allows the. city schools to have a substantially lower student-teacher atio, she said. "This supplementary tax brings several million dollars into the city schools every year, and the county schools managi with the funds appropriated to tnem by the county commissioners," she said. Orange County is mandated ty the state to provide equal funding to both systems, so a shift in funding to equalize the county and city school budgets is not possible, Hoke said. "One alternative would be to1 make a significant tax increase with the funds going to equalize tthe two systems," she said. "This would obviously be controversial because Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents would see an increase in their bills but not in the quality of the school programs." "Most of the extra revenue would be going to improve the county schools." Another option would be to imple ment a tax for the Orange County schools similar to the one levied on Chapel Hill-Carrboro school fami- from page 1 and Orange counties, Rambeau said. Marilyn McNeely, assistant direc tor of the food bank, said Wednesday that the drive will be the largest ever held to benefit the food bank. "We're excited that they've expanded," McNeely said. "That's a significant quantity of food coming in to the bank. WeVe had some drives that gave 20,000 cans, but never anything like this." UNC's part in the drive will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot Elections on N.C. Highway 54 by the Institute of Government. Participants will receive a map and will be asked to go door to door in Chapel Hill neighborhoods asking for canned goods. When all canvassers return to the lot, the food will be delivered to the food bank by an 18-wheel tractor trailer, donated by Food Lion. The food bank will distribute the food to Chapel Hill, Durham and Raleigh social-service organizations, including the Inter-Faith Council for from page 1 problems affecting black students at UNC, Blanks said. She said BSM members can solve this problem by getting involved in other campus organizations. Stephanie Beard, a sophomore from Mount Gilead, is one of the two candidates for secretary. She said she was running for office because she "decided to become more active in the BSM as it became more active and less militant." The members of the group's central committee should have a better sense of unity, she said. "Sometimes there seems to be a lack of information in the central committee," Beard said. "This is something which occurs in almost every group." Secretarial candidate Joel Winful, a sophomore from Greensboro, said the BSM should publicize the group's events more widely, especially in residence halls on North Campus. Winful also said he hoped to make the BSM central committee a vehicle for reducing apathy among black students. "Maybe if blacks saw that the concerns of the central committee were going to be acted upon by the administration, then the central committee would have more clout," Winful said. Chanda Douglas, a sophomore' from Rocky Mount, is running unopposed for treasurer. Douglas said that, if elected, she would use her position to work with the BSM in other capacities. She also said she would fight student apathy by work ing to project a better image of the BSM among the black students at UNC. Social Services in Chapel Hill and other agencies that run soup kitchens, shelters and pantries, McNeely said. The number of cans that will go into each community will be the same as the number collected in that community, Ahlschwede said. Cam pus organizations, including dorms, sororities and fraternities, tfill com pete against each other to collect the most food, she said. - "At the moment we can only give brownie points to those organizations that participate," Ahlschwede said. "Well recognize organizations by total cans collected and also by cans collected per member." , ! Individuals not connected with a campus organization are diso encour aged to participate, she said. McNeely said the food irive is also an educational tool forlkhe whole community. J "We see a great potential in this drive for bringing people together," she said. "It gets people to think about hunger as an issue, and that there are -; H hungry people out there in this incredibly affluent society." To participate, sign up in Suite C of the Student Union. To donate canned food, take it to the Highway 54 parking lot by the Institute of Government on Saturday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Collection boxes will also be set up in dorms across campus and in the Union, Ahlschwede said. The drive will be sponsored by WRAL-TV and Domino's Pizza, and other local businesses, including Food Lion, Brueggers Bagel Bakery and Coca-Cola, have donated goods and services, Rambeau said. lies, Hoke said. "Orange County has considered levying their own district tax, but the residents have been very vocal in opposing it," she said. "Many of the county residents are large landowners whose tax bills would greatly increase under such a plan." The issue of equal funding for Orange County schools arose after a study of a possible merger between the city and county systems. The School Merger Study Com mission was created in 1986 to investigate merging the systems, but in its final report the commission recommended against a merger. The commission did suggest, however, that the county work to equalize per pupil funding. According to a report by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, Orange County commis sioners recognized the disparity in funding was a direct result of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro supplemental tax, but they were unable to decide how to equalize funding without limiting the amount of funds that went to the city schools. The position held by the chamber of commerce stated "we believe our school system should not be limited to maintaining its current level of educational services while the county commissioners strive for parity. between the two systems." Leonard Van Ness, executive vice ( president of the chamber of com- , merce, said, "Our belief is that the'.; gap should be narrowed each year by ; raising the county's per pupil expen-; diture level." "If the gap continues to widen,'1 residents in the city schools district . of the county will have to pay an even' ,' greater proportion of the tax burden . necessary to support both educa- ' tional systems," he said. Orange County Board of Commis--' sioners Chairwoman Shirley Mar shall said equalizing funding for the two systems could cause the tax base for the county to rise. "One alternative would be to raise this base which would result in an approximate 5-cent increase for Chapel Hill and Carrboro residents: and a 20-cent increase for the rest of the county," she said. "That is a big jump for any one group." The Orange County Commission ers are committed to narrowing thist disparity in funding, but an accep table solution has not yet been found, Marshall said. "We won't do anything to make, this problem any worse. When " allocate funds we will do so on ar equal basis," she said. , Save $S0-$B69! Schwinn Jamis Diamond Back -k Cannondale Prices starting at 7 8995! 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The Douglas Stewart Co. is a national distributor of merchandise and -services to college bookstores. The National Student Sweepstakes was sponsored by a variety of famous manufactures, primarily the contributors of the major prizes: Maxell Corporation sponsored the Grand Prize, a 1987 Toyota Supra Turbo; TDK Tapes donated 3 Suzuki 125 Quad-Runners ar First Prizes; Sharp Electronics contributed 45 Microwave Ovens; and Casio provided 45 Handheld Televisions. College and university bookstores from a wide range of schools participated in the promotion in August through November, 1987. During each Festival, the 29 participating stores accepted entry blanks for the prizes, and at the completion of their Festival, drew 10 Semi-Finalists. The Semi Finalists were then submitted to The Douglas Stewary Co. until the time of the final drawing. The winners were determined in the final drawing, which took place on January 25, 1988 at the National Association of College Stores (NACS) in Oberlin, OH. NACS is an organization that provides educational and support services for college stores to help them serve their educational communities most effectively. The drawing was attended by representatives from Maxell, TDK and The Dougals Stewart Co. Winners were drawn by the President of NACS. The Grand Prize winner attends California Polytech Institute in San Luis Obispo, CA. The Toyota Supra will be awarded to him on February 25 on the Cal Poly campus. Individual stores will be awarding the other prizes on their campuses. A complete list of winners is available at participating bookstores. 9 Winners From UNCI f I I a fk A I S ( Vf j if Watch for our special every week! ! ol o J q o) UUUL5 UUUUViJ OFFER GOOD THROUGH MARCH 20th. 130 Elliott Road 215 Franklin Street c)1988 Burger King Corp. 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