Schools

Area Parents and School Board Officials Oppose School District Consolidation Bill

Using social media to get the initial word out, residents in District 146 and officials in other districts are gathering to express strong opposition to House Bill 1886.

A bill entered into the Illinois House of Representatives that would end school districts as they are now known and replace them with one or two districts per county has sparked ire from parents and school officials.

House Bill 1886, filed Feb. 16 by 28th District Rep. Robert Rita (D-Blue Island), calls for “all school districts in this State in existence on June 30, 2012 (other than the Chicago school district) are dissolved, and their school boards are abolished.” The bill was introduced around the time Gov. Pat Quinn’s office suggested that the state could save $100 million by eliminating 500 of the state’s 868 school districts to cut administrative costs, according to Illinois Statehouse News reporter Andrew Thomason.

However, local officials and parents are worried their students will get lost in a school board that would cover all of suburban Cook County.

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"I can just see this becoming a bureaucratic monster," District 146 President Dean Casper said during last week's board meeting.

Parents among Community Consolidated School District 146’s Parent Teacher Association were not happy with this bill. About two hours after learning about the legislation during a Friday meeting with District 146 Superintendent Dr. Marion Hoyda, a Facebook group was started called "Illinoisans: Say NO to HB1886." By Sunday evening, 145 people had joined, including parents and officials from 146, as well as from school districts 140 and 135.

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“Who wants this?” Sue Sherman, a District 146 parent who started the Facebook group, said about the bill. “District 146 is stable, financially sound and fiscally conservative. We weathered the economic storm with little impact, and the last thing we want to see is all of our revenues pooled into a gigantic bureaucracy like CPS (Chicago Public Schools).”

District 146 parents and officials are concerned such a consolidation could halt construction plans already in progress on one of the district’s schools, Sherman said.

“If all the contracts go void, then the building is never finished,” she said.

will open to students next school year after but the district's further plans would be jeopardized by the bill, Casper said during the board meeting last Thursday.

"Phase 2 and 3 for Memorial School would be a thing of the past," he said.

The bill also included that “the terms of all board members end; and (iv) all of the powers, duties, assets, liabilities, employees, contracts, property, records, pending business, and unexpended funds of each school board are transferred to the appropriate county school board or boards.”

Orland Park School District 135 Board of Education President Tom Cunningham described the bill as a “joke,” and a maneuver by state legislators to acquire more “power and control.”

“It penalizes good districts like ours who did their homework,” Cunningham said. “We went from $4-$5 million in the red to over $50 million in the bank and they want to raid our resources. So what good was it for us to do all that work?”

Cunningham said some consolidation would serve over-staffed districts with a low number of schools, but added that the move does not need to be as widespread as Rita's bill demands. Two hundred school districts in Illinois have one school within their boundaries and administrative staff with salaries that can exceed $100,000 per person.   

“This is really the beginning of the November election,” Cunningham said. “This is how some politicians will try to make a name for themselves.”

Kirby School District 140 Board of Education President Chuck Augustyniak and Casper have also joined the Facebook group. Casper described the bill as a “horror story” on the page.

While the bill is intended to save money overall, Casper wrote on the Facebook page that “taxes will rise as money is dispersed to overcome 'inequities' to low-income districts, quality and accountability will plummet.”

Casper also pointed out that a town hall meeting about House Bill 1886 is called for 7 p.m. Monday, March 14, at Central Middle School in Tinley Park.

Messages left for Rita were not returned by Sunday evening.


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