School merger opponents get active again

A political action group that formed to oppose merging Orange County's two school districts is back to endorse candidates in the Orange County Board of Commissioners race.

NoMerger.org is made up of parents who are against merging the Orange County Schools and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools as a way of balancing the two systems' funding.

"We've formally been a [political action committee] for two years but went inactive between county commissioner elections to reduce paperwork," said Mark Peters, a steering committee member. "Now we've turned in papers to become active again."

Though county commissioners tabled the merger issue in February, NoMerger.org members aren't sure that's the end of it.

"How binding was that decision?" Peters said. "They took it off the table from the discussion point of view. ... The decision they made is not binding."

"Basically, they can bring it up at any time in the future," he said.

The commissioners fund both school systems on an equal per-pupil basis. But the Chapel Hill-Carrboro system takes in about $14 million more annually through a special district tax.

Orange County voters voted against creating a similar tax in that district in November.

Matthew Barton, another NoMerger.org member, said equity between the systems has yet to be defined and does not have to mean a dollar-for-dollar match.

"We in the southern part of Orange County have had impact tax revenues redirected to pay for the costs of new schools in the north, but we expect to get some of that money back over the next decade as the continuing growth in the north helps pay for the schools we need," he said.

"The commissioner candidates need to understand that the anti-tax, anti-bond activists are really trying to downgrade the quality of public schools," Barton added.

NoMerger.org plans to issue endorsements Wednesday for the May 2 commissioners primary.