D200 Candidates’ School Board Comments

I went through the D200 board meeting minutes to see how often each of this year’s candidates has spoken, and on what topics. I did not check for committee meetings. Mr. Lonks attends the finance committee and the facilities committee meetings on a regular basis. As far as I can tell, others do not. For each entry, regular font is what appears in the minutes, Italics for more detail based on listening to the videos. Links to a few videos are at the bottom of this post.

Harold Lonks

Harold has spoken many times over 8+ years at board meetings on a wide variety of topics.

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D200 Candidate information

LWV forum

Four Candidates appeared at the League of Women Voters CUSD School Board Candidate Forum. Harold Lonks was out of town watching his daughter compete in the United States Figure Skating National Synchronized Ice Skating Novice Championships – They took 4^th.

As you watch, notice, that there are no questions on finances or facilities – two topics that have been important in the community.

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D200 Citizen’s Advisory Council (CAC)

Last year a friend sent an email to D200, Her Question was:

Please provide me with the list of names of all of citizens on the citizens advisory committee as well as the meeting minutes from the past 12 months. Since this is a citizens committee this information should be available on the website.

Please provide me with the reason why any taxpaying citizen should have to fill out an application to be on a citizens committee?

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IL Legislation to close “Lease” to avoid referendum loophole

Wheaton’s state Rep, Amy Grant has submitted a bill, HB2145 and Palatine Rep. Thomas Morrison has submitted a bill, HB2738 (virtually the same), to close the “loophole” that district 200 tried to use to avoid the referendum for a new Jefferson pre-school building. Other districts have already done this, and we fear it may be catching on like wildfire. If school boards can build new facilities without referendum by signing a lease-to-own agreement, then issue debt service extension base (DSEB) Bonds, without a referendum to shore up their general revenues (raising future taxes to pay then back), we are in real trouble. Using the magic word “Lease should not void the clear intent of the original law that requires a referendum for new construction.

I submitted written comments (similar to this post) with my witness slip in support of HB2145.

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Shall Lisle D202 Reduce the Excess Tax Levy?

Lisle, school district 202 taxpayers will have a question on the April 2, 2019 ballot to lower property taxes. The question that will appear is:

Shall the amount extended for educational purposes by the Lisle Community Unit School District 202 be reduced from $19,062,127.15 to $17,155,915.00 for the 2018 levy year, but in no event lower than the amount required to maintain an adequacy target of 110%?

The following are screen shots (and a link) from Lisle Watchdog’s twitter page, taken on 2/28/2019.

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REFERENDUM TO NOWHERE – Part 8 – Unfair, Wasteful and Unaffordable – $140,000,000.00 Referendum 3.1

This Referendum to Nowhere is UNFAIR because it does not address the fundamental and systemic issues faced by District 86. The referendum does nothing to correct the student population imbalance between the Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South. It does nothing to correct the curriculum inequity between Hinsdale Central and Hinsdale South. And finally, and more egregiously the referendum does nothing to address segregation within the District.

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NO MEANS NO – Part 4 – D86 Can Do Better – $140,000,000.00 Referendum 3.1

After yet another failed referendum, it was our hope that our school district would work collaboratively with the community to develop a plan for our schools that would provide all our children a 21st century education in an equal, efficient, and affordable way.

It turns out we were being naïve. Days after the community rejected the unfair, wasteful, and unaffordable District 86 referendum, the district’s second straight failed referendum and the only November school referendum to fail in all of Chicagoland, they were already working to put yet another referendum on the ballot without ever engaging the public to develop a new plan that aligned with the community’s wishes. They then took the appalling step of taking away our children’s athletics and activities, holding them hostage unless we vote to pass their $140,000,000.00 tax increase in April. Continue reading “NO MEANS NO – Part 4 – D86 Can Do Better – $140,000,000.00 Referendum 3.1” →