It 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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