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CCSD66 Notes

Monday, March 14, 2011

School Issues


In my last message, I talked about the issue of school consolidation. Since that time, there has been a flurry of action around this issue when Representative Rita's HB 1886 would have dissolved all Illinois school district with the exception of the Chicago Public Schools and replaced them with 100 county school districts effective July 1, 2012. This naturally created a firestorm of activity since this concept has not been fully discussed and communicated with all stakeholders. Many citizens were concerned about the lack of discourse regarding this issue and the fact the there was no provision for any local control. This bill would have dissolved elected boards of education and transferred local district liabilities and resources to a newly created county board of education, as well as all current school employees. The outrage caused by the posting of this bill for a hearing in the Counties and Township Committee of the Illinois House of Representatives instead of the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee generated phone calls to committee members that shut down this action quickly. Last week hearings were held concerning HB 1216 (Chapa La Via, D-Aurora) that would establish a “School District Realignment and Consolidation Commission” to examine the issues surrounding consolidation and report back to the General Assembly by July 1, 2012. This bill seems to have more support since it relies on the input of all stakeholders and doesn't force any arbitrary solutions to a very complex problem.

Since Governor Quinn's premise for supporting mass consolidation is to reduce school administrative costs, I thought it appropriate to discuss our local costs in that context. Center Cass SD ranks in the bottom quartile (lowest) of Illinois Elementary Districts at 309 of 378 districts. Our cost is $235.57 per child. There are only two DuPage County districts with lower administrative costs. Those districts are Roselle District 12 and West Chicago 33. Our neighboring districts all exceed us in administrative cost comparisons. The highest per capita administrative cost for an elementary district in the state of Illinois is $3,985. We are proud that our low administrative cost allows our students to perform well within the highest quartile in student achievement.

In the meanwhile, Governor Quinn continues to push to reduce Illinois districts form 868 to 300 or fewer having a population of 30,000 to 35,000. Boundaries would be established like legislative districts with no local input. Apparently, the Governor has forgotten that current consolidation rules have the state pay the difference in teacher salaries. Somehow the Governor thinks that the state would save over $100 million in administrative salaries via consolidation. The Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) reports as an example that merging the seven Palatine area elementary districts with one high school district could save $1.6 million in administrative costs but the resulting increase in teacher salaries in the new consolidated district would cost $10 million. One can easily see that Governor Quinn's math is not correct and economics alone can not sell an argument for mass consolidation with out local input. Keep your eyes and ears open as this issues continues to percolate in Springfield.





Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Legislative Alert


The continued poor economic times coupled with a new political reality has many state governments working hard to contain costs and better manage and utilize limited public funds. The need for better stewardship in this area has brought extreme reactions in some states such as Wisconsin, Indiana and New Jersey as they try to balance obligations with new economic times. In the state of Illinois, Governor Quinn has recently pushed for school consolidation as a way to help balance the budget. Since Illinois has well over 850 local school districts, it seems as this may be a worthwhile avenue to explore. The issue of school consolidation has been discussed and debated over the years and many districts have consolidated. Nevertheless, a recent report from the National Education Policy Center just published February 1, 2011 indicates that after a century of school consolidations across the country, most increased efficiencies have already been achieved and further consolidation efforts need to include a careful study of all factors impacting a potential consolidation. Current assumptions about the benefits of school consolidation are generally based on claims that are overly simplified. You can review this report at http://nepc.colorado.edu. The report is found under new publications on the left side of the homepage.

Consolidation in Illinois is generating a great deal of interest. What parents should know about the various consolidation plans is that not all proposed plans have a component of local input into decision making. Some of the plans call for the legislature to establish school boundaries and then absorb resources from existing district and establish a new district. Some plans have a more thoughtful multi-layer process to arrive at consolidation decisions. There are currently four separate consolidation bills in the General Assembly. They are: HB 268 (Rep. Franks), HB 1216 (Rep. Chapa LaVia), HB 1886 (Rep. Rita) and SB 1324 (Senator Schoenberg). You can read and follow these bills at the Illinois General Assembly website, www.ilga.gov. Should you have any concerns about these bills, for most of our area, our State Representative is Patricia Bellock and our Senator is Kurt Dillard. Their contact information is also available on the Illinois General Assembly website. They both appreciate receiving input from their constituents. Feel free to contact them to express any questions or concerns you may have.