Will school taxes only get worse?

In this week's (Jan. 4-10) The Woodstock Independent is a Letter to the Editor from Dino Guis, of Woodstock.

He wrote about the District 200 School Board meeting which he had attended on December 13 and TWI reporter Elizabeth Harmon's December 21st article about that meeting. Mr. Guis warns area property taxpayers to wake up and start showing up at School Board meetings.

Didn't I write about abatement of taxes last month? What is an abatement? It's a putting-off of taxes. It's a postponement. It's like skipping a payment on your credit card. You can do it, but the day of reckoning is still approaching.

Guis wrote that the abatement was $5,000,000 and that District 200 was borrowing money to cover debt service for two years. Isn't that like borrowing on one credit card to pay off another?

Has the District really "balanced the budget" by using money saved up in previous years to pay the current year's expenses? No. A "balanced budget" is when your income equals your expenses!

Guis mentions a school district debt of $240,000,000, mostly redeemable by 2023. That's only 11 years from now. Does the District have a plan to pay off $20,000,000/year? Or will it just roll-over its debt?

From my seat the School Board ought to be examining payroll and determining what should be done to cut it. Get rid of the dead wood - those teachers who aren't performing. Also, you don't need need teachers with PhDs teaching elementary school.

A huge problem right now is that school districts (not just District 200) pay teachers to go and get advanced degrees, and then they have to pay them more because they have the advanced degrees. They didn't necessarily become better teachers. They just got more letters behind their names.

Yes, the School Board is going to have to fight the teachers' union. So what? You either fight now or fight later. And if they don't fight? Well, look at the pension liability in the State of Illinois right now. And look at the deal that the two lobbyists swung by teaching for just one day. They ought to go to jail, except the legislators gave a green light to the set-up that let those two take such a huge and unfair advantage.

Typically, almost no parents, residents or voters show up at School Board meetings. And those that do are often bored by the dog-and-pony show that goes on at each meeting, with teachers there with their PowerPoint presentations. Do they get over-time or comp time for being at the evening School Board meeting?

When are District 200 school board meetings? Go to www.woodstockschools.org
Hover over School Board, then click on Meeting Schedule. If you have questions, call 815.338.8200

Mr. Guis, please give me a call. I can't find your phone number.