A note for the future: This is how referendum looks like
Posted by: learnthinkdo in education, getting what you paid for, sweet suburban fantasy, tags: forthegoodofillinois, Ridgeland, Ridgeland School District 122, school referendum, schools, shelstrom, teacher salary schedule, teacher unionIt starts as a basic suburban tax referendum story and ends in a powerful crescendo. Please remember, I am the possibility of love, balance, integrity and leadership.
I looked up districts with online check registers from forthegoodofillinois.org. Found a slightly unusual story about this little school district. http://www.forthegoodofillinois.org/News/2008/11/10/RIDGELAND-TAX-REFERENDUM-REJECTED-BY-VOTERS/
Ridgeland School District 122 wanted to raise property taxes on Nov 4, 2008. It failed twice and this is the third referendum in 19 months. Maybe ObamaMama will put it over the top. No good. Got shot down by 2062 for : 4720 against.
This forgettable local journalist’s excerpt has a slight hint: http://www.southtownstar.com/neighborhoodstar/oaklawn/1260625,elect-ridgeland122-110508.article
Before the last failure in February, the district had threatened to close a school and convert to grade centers, in which students are assigned to schools by grade level not neighborhood.
The school board decided instead to implement some modest cost saving measures, raise some fees and ask voters for a third straight year to approve the tax increase. The district plans a strategic meeting for next month to decide the district’s direction, Sodaro said.
Something isn’t quite right… Why are the residents so set against the district? When a district really needs the money it never has a problem communicating it. So I look up the original in southtownstar.com site above.
Voila, a single comment to the article is incredibly valuable. Impossibly incredibly priceless! First, it’s by Bob Sheldstrom, a fairly well known anti-tax activist. He has several posts at another wonderful lady’s blog: http://mythoughtsideasandramblings.com/2008/02/06/ridgeland-school-district-122-referendum/
Second, it’s a call to action! I AM taking him up on his invitation.
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bob shelstrom wrote:This was the best thing that could happen.The teachers union is currently in negotiations for their new contract, and if this huge tax increase was passed, it would be “on the table” for negotiations and the new funds would be gobbled up before they could get to the children.
Now the Board and administration are in a better position to negotiate a fair “cost of living” top end raise schedule, then spend any additional tax or bond revenues reducing fees and reinstating programs if the referendum is approved in April.
By the way, I understand that teachers are making noises about walking out on the children if they don’t get an AVERAGE 5%+ raise in the first year.
With step and “end of career” raises, actual raises could be much higher.
I suggest parents let their teachers know that this greed and irresponsibility would not be tolerated by the community, and life could become very difficult for them if they hurt the children and families this way.
Considering that returning teachers just received real raises of 15% and 11% a few years ago (check it out at www.thechampion.org under “Project Accountability), the intiating event for the district’s financial troubles, walking out on the kids would brand the union as perhaps the most selfish and ungrateful such union in the Southland.
Board elections are next April, and petitions are now available at the district. They need to be submitted no later than Jan 20. It only takes 50 “good” signatures to be put on the ballot, so you really should get about 150.
Are there any concerned parents out there who are willing to take on the unions for their children, and regain the trust of the community by showing they can put the children first when it comes to economizing while making the best interests of the childrena nd families their top priority?
E-mial me at bobshelstrom@yahoo.com if you need any info about how to run for the Board.
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Thanks for the link. However, who is getting hurt out of this? The kids. If I send my daughter to the public school next year, she will not have music or art which will definitely put her behind other children who live here in Oak Lawn.
My only recourse here is to send her to private school. I know you are going to say run for the board, but that won’t help my daughter for school next year.
Lisa’s last blog post..Lands End Exclusive Deal!
Hi Lisa,
I enjoyed your discussion with Ed and Bob on your blog. All three of you are very knowledgeable and level-minded.
Please consider the possibility that we have been conditioned by the school system into a powerless way of thinking about the school priorities.
Let’s stop assuming that the district can simply discard a program to cut the
budget. Let’s create a vision that art and music classes have the
same priority as sports and regular classes. Let’s also create a vision that the district cannot simply fire teachers to save money.
The district might cut across the board.
Teacher salary schedules have a rigid “step-down” system that rewards seniority and a masters degree.
Teacher health plans are always exceptionally generous to the teachers, with a token premium and a token deductible.
Our plan has 92% utilization by the teachers. 92% of insurance company’s income goes right back to the teachers.
The company is stuck with 8% gross margin. No wonder it bumps the premium by 12% for next year.
Add up the salaries, health payouts, pension payouts of a 15-year high school teacher.
15 years of experience (seniority) is average for teachers. The district could easily pay out $120-$130K a year.
Imagine you’re a VP of iPod product line in Apple.
Recession is here and Apple’s income is down.
Steve Jobs throws out an idea to cancel iPod and focus only on iPhone and Mac. But you know that iPod is just as important to Apple as the iPhone and the Mac.
Are you going to appeal to his sympathy for your about-to-go-hungry family or are you going to stand for what you know is right?
If you stand up for yourself you will prove to Steve why iPod belongs in company’s portfolio.
It might be uncomfortable, but you must get the district to bring those expenses down from $120K to $110K a year.
The teachers certainly are wonderful and they wouldn’t like it , but it’s also tough to manage a lot of other jobs for far less money.
The union wants you to think only about this year’s art and music.
Don’t let them set these parameters for you.
You gotta stand up, not only as one mother of one student, as also as an owner of the district.
You’re not the only one.
Once you stand up, others will too.
Please stand up!
Mike
I founded http://www.forthegoodofillinois.org .
Ridgeland d122 is on our Public Service Watchlist (opposite of the 37 districts on our honor roll), because their administration and school board will not post their check register on their website! What are they hiding? So, we FOIA it and post it on our watch list. The Illinois public is generous with public education, Oak Lawn is right not to give more to this district until they show you where the existing funds are being spent!
Yep, I keep asking mine. It takes a few times over and over and over. We have started assembling a Parent Advisory Committee. Turns out it is a perfectly normal, legally sanctioned entity. Hmm, why is it hardly mentioned, unlike the PTA/PTO?
Where on http://www.forthegoodofillinois.org are the above-mentioned check registers that you got through FOIA?
On our homepage, right next to the Illinois School District Honor Roll, we have the Public Service Watch List. Ridgeland is on that bad government list. Some interesting articles are posted their as well. Over the summer, the superintendent increased his own pay by 10% after cancelling outdoor recess at one of the grade schools for the second half of the year! Please contact me at adam@forthegoodofillinois.org. I can help you be successful asking your district to post their registry!