Parents voice opposition
By AMBER KROSEL - akrosel@nwherald.com
MARENGO – A small group of determined parents recently have spoken out against the upcoming District 165 referendum.
The district is asking voters Tuesday for a 48-cent property tax rate increase per $100 of a home’s assessed value. This would help prevent further education cuts and relieve a $2.5 million debt hole, district officials said.
For the owner of a $200,000 home who takes the homestead exemption, it would cost about $293 more a year.
Parents Cynthia Schenk, Susan Cohen and Kristin Ottolino say the referendum is too hard on local taxpayers. They prefer other solutions, such as school district consolidation, seeking additional grant money, or cutting the budget for administrators.
“This slogan, ‘It’s about our kids,’ is an insult to our community, when it’s really about taking away from our kids,” Schenk said.
After last year’s unsuccessful referendum, class sizes and registration fees increased, while music and art specialists for kindergarten through fifth grade were eliminated. However, fine arts elements today remain embedded in other subjects.
Without a tax-rate increase, more teachers will be cut, along with all extra-curricular activities, sports and clubs included. Class sizes also would jump to 30-plus students.
Schenk said she thought taxpayers were being “threatened” with the additional cuts.
She and others also have questioned the legality of the music and art reductions, but Gene Goeglein, regional superintendent for McHenry County schools, said District 165 could embed the curriculum as long as there’s proof through lesson plans and assessments, which are not necessarily letter grades.
Although the district successfully passed a compliance check last year, Superintendent Lea Damisch said she would offer to produce current paperwork to the regional office.
Examples of District 165’s embedded fine arts curriculum include a recent fourth-grade project of building a traditional American Indian home after a related history chapter, as well as a second-grade physical education class where the Irish jig was taught near St. Patrick’s Day.
A successful referendum could help re-establish the original music and art specialties for younger students and as many as five teaching positions, plus lower registration fees, and pay off the accumulated debt within four to six years.
But if the district is successful, Schenk said she wasn’t confident it would use the funding wisely.
“Haven’t we gotten tired of other people spending our hard-earned money frivolously?” Schenk said.
However, parent and former school board member Bob Slocum said he thought the referendum was worthwhile.
“The board and administration is really just presenting people with a choice,” Slocum said. “At the current tax rate and funding level, the district can present basic education, but not extra-curriculars or art and music specialists.”
