Reading the forum in the PJS (HERE) Ms. Becky Atkinson wrote a very insightful and truthful letter. She basically hit on the mark in regards to closing one of the high schools, Woodruff in this case. She made mention that some people would put trophy cases and alumni over the fact that our District is just plain old broke. She mentions that as a community, we should all come together and make the best of this situation and do our best to make the new high school at PHS work.
You can read her letter by clicking the link I provided. I want to throw my two cents in because there were some commenter's on the PJS site about her letter critical of the District. Some so shallow all they see is the money being “wasted” by the district on their tax bills. Few seem to remember the Mr. Hinton inherited this mess from past Supers and no one seems to remember the money wasted by and paid to Royster to get rid of her. Where were these loud parents then? I know, they had no children in the schools so they, like most of us, ignored the schools. But when THEIR kid enters the schools, then they want to know everything and they know everything. OK, it's in our interest, all of ours, to know and understand our school district whether we have kids there or not. Home values go as the schools go. So if you own property in Peoria, you pay for the schools and you should care. That is why I am so jaded sometimes when it comes to District 150. I see generation after generation of parents parade up, bitch, get their kids through the schools, and disappear. Next!
I love the way people look at their tax bill and then decide too much money is going to and being wasted by District 150. District 150 has been land locked for years and as home values drop in old neighborhoods and as vacant lots increase, the Districts money goes down. Then you got a slap happy city council who has turned the entire town into TIFs which many last 20 years and many if not all, have failed to produce any growth whatsoever and yet the District receives no monies from TIFs and the taxes go to repaying for the bonds. We are stuck with Mid-Town Plaza as an example and that debt is not being paid by sales tax but now being paid by us, the taxpayers to the tune of what? $14 million?
Ms. Atkinson’s letter is right on the mark. The sad fact is District 150 is broke.
IMO, the County should combine all the school districts into 1 District with 1 Super and 1 board. That savings alone would be millions and then the county wide tax base could be distributed evenly throughout the district for all the schools. Districts like in Dunlap wouldn't be sitting on a million dollar surplus and buying $100,000 trailers to haul band equipment when the neighboring school is broke and using a wagon to haul a trumpet and a tuba. This would be the fairest way to distribute the monies to the schools but it won't fly because the folks in Dunlap and richer little Districts won't have it. Imagine how smooth our schools could run if there was just one board, one super, and one county wide district.
Silly? Actually not. This has been bantered around down in Springfield by our drunk happy reps. The same ones who find $5 million for a museum no one wants. I think it’s actually a great idea and think maybe the state should be divided in no more than 4 super districts. This way, little or even bigger broke districts can share in the state wide tax base. No District would then be considered land locked as far as tax base is concerned thus ending District 150s biggest problem. Well, second biggest problem. The first being and insensitive city council who would rather make sure a developer has a nice place to stay instead of our school children.
Oh, they will tell you that’s a lie but only one council member I know of will tell you the truth and that is Sandberg. The TIFs, the Enterprise Zones have hurt our schools funding. The way our council has paid attention to our schools in the past is liken to the Captain of the Titanic saying; “What feakin Hole? Full speed ahead!”
The single county wide district won’t fly. No body in a smaller wealthier district that runs a surplus, that can buy fancy equipment and weight rooms for sports will want to give that up and even the playing field. It might mean some students from “other” places may be able to attend their school. (If you get my drift) Hell, it might even mean a tax break for some and maybe a tax increase for others. I don’t think any school district should be hoarding tax money, period. Not when so many schools are suffering.
What it might do is even the schools out, relieve some money problems for a lot of schools which means a better education opportunity for all the children and with a county wide district, more board members to represent the public which means less six figured over priced egg heads acting as Generals over their districts which might make them extinct. Pay ONE Super and his/her staff, that’s it.
Boy, I would like to see the bitching at those school board meetings by the parents. BTW, no wheel for the school board. You guys can’t afford it.
16 comments:
Randy, sorry, as you might expect I disagree with Beth--just wrote on the PJS blog, so I won't repeat it here. However, I noticed your suggestion about Dunlap. Last week John Parkhurst died--he was instrumental in taking some measures as a state legislator to see to it that Dunlap and 150 would never be combined. That decision was born out of the anger of those in the Richwoods area when it was forced to become part of 150.
Sharon, never say never especially when it comes to politics. The idea of one county district is being considered down in Springfield. Now whether or not it makes it, that is yet to be seen but the current system of funding is broken in some areas. We shall see.
Have you read the PJS comments about the bill that was passed in 1967--do you think there's a way around it? Just asking--I don't understand any of it.
PS--I didn't read carefully--I thought Beth wrote this letter--didn't sound like her, so I'm glad to realize the name is "Becky."
Randy - George Shadid has been advocating a county wide district for some time. Talk to him and see how the conversation can be advanced.
I think the county wide school district would have more merit if schools were funded primarily by local property taxes. However, that is not the case in Peoria. District 150 spends $11,398 per student. In the "wealthy" Dunlap district, the amount is $10,417 per student. But here is the real difference. In D150, local property taxes make up only 43.5% of revenues - the rest is other local, state and federal aid. That means, in a balanced budget, taxpayers living in D150 pay only $4,958 to educate each student. In Dunlap, property taxes make up 81% of revenues - or $8,438. What does the fact that taxpayers in Dunlap school district pay in with their property taxes 70% more per student get them? Far less in state and federal aid, so much less that D150 receives and spends more per student. Am I complaining about that? No - it is the reasonable and necessary equalizer - the state and feds jump in with funding to help out the "poorer" districts.
Thus, I believe the only thing to be gained by county school districts is the hope for smoother, more efficient administration - not exactly a sure thing.
SO the solution to Peoria's problems is to share that lack of vision, integrity and fiscal responsibility with other communities???
Why do you think so many people are leaving District 150? Because of Whitaker? Royster? Hinton? No, it is because Peoria is the quick sand of political integrity... it is the glove of Willie Mays where good ideas are smothered... it is the dark of the side of progress.
Look at our recent history... we sent Lahood and Schock to Washington after sending someone like Robert Michel. We are a community that is apparently suicidal.
If Dunlap or Bartonville or Peoria Heights even considered the possibility of combining with District 150 they should be disqualified because of mental disease. You would have to force it down their throats. (Ahh yes, the American way!)
That only holds if you think District 150s problems are primarily 'professional' or lack thereof. If you are like me and see it primarily as a demographic issue, then the solution isn't to beat on the teachers but rather to look at ways to spread the large deeply impoverished student body around in a way that is academically beneficial to all students. Peoria cannot and will not ever have a successful school district when the student body is 60, 70, 80, or 90% poor.
What this area needs is economic desegregation. The school district(s) down in the Raleigh-Durham area have been doing it for years with success. The poor kids benefit from the role modeling and mentoring of the middle and upper class kids. The 'rich' kids benefit from more closely experiencing how the other half lives. Overall test scores improve, including those of the kids who would otherwise not be at risk.
Yes, and I am all for any system that begins to talk about rich vs poor instead of white vs black. It's time we acknowledge that black students do not all fall in the same category any more than white students do. I would like to outlaw all comparisons between black and white--replace them with comparisons on an economic basis. It's too bad that a black child's economic status isn't as "visible" as is his skin color.
Mahkno gets the gold star! Kids benefit considerably the more they interact and work with others of different socio-economic, cultural, and religious backgrounds. Where do we start the conversation for this to happen?
"Where do we start the conversation for this to happen?"
In the homes. The parents have to let go of their fears.
Just one example of how it worked for me: I hope Gail doesn't mind my telling this story. But when she was an 8th grader, she indicated to me that she thought I was rich (why because I was white). So I took her to my mother's home--the result Gail asked if she could paint my mother's fence for her. My cousin of the same age and Gail painted the fence. Gail was probably the first black person ever to come near my mother's house. A few weeks ago Gail and her husband stopped by to see me (they live in Arizona--and certainly not the first visit)--Gail has kept our relationship alive for all these years. But it started out because she was willing to be very vulnerable to open up to me about her struggles as a black teenager in the world of the 1960s with all its misconceptions--all of us had them. Then when I started tutoring pregnant girls and when I worked Headstart, I was invited into black homes (a first for me)--and all my misconceptions faded away. Because of my own experiences, I forget that there are young people and adults (way too many) of both races who haven't become intimate enough with friends of the opposite race to go to their homes, etc. Opening our homes is the same as opening our hearts. What I can't believe is that it is a "new" idea over 30 years later.
"The parents have to let go of their fears".
Of their kids being shot? No thanks.
Anonymous--It sounds harsh,and I hate to admit that with the change in times, I am much less willing to go into danger zones. In the 1960s-1970s I traveled freely on the southside of Peoria day or night with no fair--into Harrison Homes, etc. However, you are making an assumption that all black children live in danger zones and that simply isn't true and/or that all white kids live in safe zones. However, I do believe that black and white young people from middle class homes do have friendships and do visit each other's homes. The kids probably most in need of interaction probably don't have these experiences or opportunities for them. Just taking Manual for instance, I know that school activities do bring kids together outside of school. However, the south side schools are becoming more and more segregated--close to conditions before the 1960s. However, mobility is greater--black people are not unwelcome in other areas of the city as they once were.
That would be with no "fear."
NEWSFLASH Em......Hinton squandered his own fair share of District 150 reserves........I know it would be HARD to prove because they don't do AUDITS in D150, do they.......
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