Green Party Backs HB 750

The Green Party Candidate for Governor, Rich Whitney is supporting the tax swap planHB 750. (Hat tip: Proviso Probe)            The Greens are making HB 750 central to the campaigns for governor and the legislature. The concept of HB 750 is to increase income taxes while reducing property taxes to fund schools more equally. The [...]

No Pay to Play In Cary District 26

The school board in Cary District 26 passed a new policy this week aimed at preventing any pay to play politics with the school system. This was introduced by school board member Chris Jenner.            Vendor/Contractor Conflict of Interest Any company or individual doing $10,000 or more in business with the District within a fiscal [...]

Technology Brings Open Government Access

COSLA, a watchdog group for Waukegan School District 60, is using technology to bring truly open access to the people of Waukegan. They are videotaping the school board meetings and placing them on YouTube for all to see.            Now, with a camcorder, free editing software and an Internet connection, a local citizens group has [...]

LTE: Teacher Raises Higher Than Taxpayers

Bill Zettler wrote a letter to the editor that appeared in todays Daily Herald. In it he confirms who is to blame for the high taxes and fees in schools. It is partly the teachers’ union that hold the children hostage to get better raises than the taxpayers who pay their salaries. The part Bill [...]

Eminent Domain & Batavia Schools

In Batavia, the schools and park district are working together to force the Mooseheart owners to give up their land. The problem is, the Mooseheart owners do not want to sell. You would think that if the land is not for sale the schools and park district would look elsewhere. But no, if they do [...]

Whose to Blame For High School Taxes and Fees?

Bob Shelstrom, guest columnist in the Daily Southtown points out where the real blame lies for high taxes and fees charged by schools in his column entitled “Overpaid teachers, school system greed are cause of high taxes, fees“. (Hat tip: Students First)            High taxes and fees are due more to school system “greed” than [...]

Taxpayers Lose Again

Citizens in Jersey County have been fighting against the school district who levied bonds and built 2 new schools even though voters defeated the bond referendum 71% to 29%. Below is the letter I received about the case being dismissed because the judge said they waited too long. Please pass this information along to your [...]

Incorrect Ballots to Stay Wrong

In a followup to the ballot question analysis from yesterday, the Daily Herald is reporting that voters’ ballots will stay wrong.            Lake County Clerk Willard Helander said incorrectly worded tax-rate increase questions will remain on the Nov. 7 ballot, despite calls for their removal. Helander said unless a judge issues an injunction, voters will [...]

D 127 Staff Get 5 Year Contract

The Grayslake Highschool District 127 Teachers and Staff agreed to a 5 year contract last week. The only nubmers given in the paper are a 2.25% raise each year.            GRAYSLAKE — Parents and taxpayers of Grayslake Community High School District 127 students can look forward to five years of harmonious teacher-support staff labor relations [...]

Referendum Questions In Doubt

Several of the fall referendum questions are in doubt. The Daily Herald has done the analysis and found several Lake County School Districts and other suburban taxing bodies used incorrect figures in their questions. This could lead to judges getting the final say.            Judges — not voters — may cast some of the deciding [...]

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