Finances at top of priorities
By KEVIN P. CRAVER - kcraver@nwherald.com
Five candidates are running for four contested seats on the District 26 school board at the same time the district is asking voters for a tax increase.
Getting the K-8 district’s finances back in order and ending deficit spending are the top priorities of the candidates, three of whom are running for re-election to second terms.
“If I had to narrow it down to a single goal, mine would be to restore us back to financial stability,” incumbent Chris Jenner said.
Fellow incumbents Craig Loew and David Ruelle feel the same about the district’s stability, although they have differences of opinion when it comes to the referendum. Ruelle and Loew voted to put the tax increase on the April 7 ballot, although Jenner voted against it.
The board wants to borrow $17 million for capital and working cash needs, which, if approved, would increase the tax rate by 5 cents, or about $47 more a year for the owner of a $300,000 home who takes the homestead exemption.
Ruelle said the $7 million that a successful referendum would put into working cash would prevent the district from short-term borrowing during the school year. He and Loew said the borrowing this school year had cost the district $130,000 in interest that would be better spent educating children.
“Do we want to spend it in-district, or do we want to give it to the banks?” Ruelle said.
The three incumbents said a priority, if re-elected, would be to implement a zero-based budgeting system to ensure that future school district budgets are balanced. The district in the past several years, Loew said, had been narrowing the gap.
“There are good fiscal practices going on,” Loew said. “We’re not just sitting here waiting for the outcome of something before it happens.”
Julie Jette, a former research chemist turned teacher, said she, too, would like to see zero-based budgeting implemented. She also said she looked forward to new curriculum standards that the board developed with teachers.
Jette was appointed last year to fill the unexpired term of former member Kristen Lewis, but is running for one of the vacant four-year terms.
Candidate Vicki Pesch is running unopposed to fill Lewis’ two-year unexpired term.
“I’m really glad the present board initiated [zero-based budgeting], and we need to keep working at that to get in a better financial position,” Jette said.
Jenner lauded some of the accountability and transparency rules enacted during his term. He pioneered anti “pay-to-play” rules barring the district from doing business with election or referendum donors, and rules requiring the district to bid out all projects, including services for which state law does not require bidding.
Newcomer Christopher Spoerl, president of the District 26 Education Foundation, said his experience as a certified public accountant would be valuable to a district looking to balance the books. He said he wants to undo the “steep and rapid decline” in the district’s financial rating due to years of deficit budgets.
Spoerl said he supported the referendum only if the board required a balanced budget.
“Whether or not this referendum passes, a balanced budget is a must,” Spoerl said. “We can’t go forward doing this.”
