Minooka 201 Audit Report 2010 (or What Was All That Accounting Talk About?)

Those of you who attended the November 17, 2010 meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board and stayed for the business portion of the meeting may have been wondering what the lengthy discussion between our auditor and myself was about (those of you who did not attend were saved the boredom of listening to a discussion of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 5). Well, in accounting jargon, what we were talking about were "contingent liabilities." "Contingent liabilities" are potential obligations that a school district or other entity may be faced with having to pay in the future. They can arise in a variety of ways, but they are generally the result of losing a lawsuit or settling a lawsuit out of court. In the case of Minooka CCSD 201, the contingent liabilities at issue arose from appeals of property tax assessments on two separate pieces of property. Now contingent liabilities, according to financial accounting standards (SFAS 5) must be disclosed on an entity's financial statements when they are "probable" and the liability can be "reasonably estimated." This is what the discussion was about. Our audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010 were subsequently approved at the December 1, 2010 special meeting. Click here for a link to the Minooka CCSD 201 audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010. The contingent liability disclosure is on pages 34 and 35.

As you can see from the financial statements, we are dealing with very large expected liabilities in terms of our annual budget (in one case $5,700,000 and in the other case $2,800,000, for a total of $8,500,000). These numbers represent the "estimated" liability (a best guess given current information), so the ultimate liabilities could be greater or less than the "estimated" amounts. The good news is that we have some large fund balances. The bad news is that these liabilities are also large. In fact, if they had to be paid today at the "estimated" amounts, our fund balances would be reduced by roughly one third.

Those who read the article in the Morris Herald regarding our fund balances (the same article appeared in November 25, 2010 edition of the Southwest Herald) might want to consider that article in light of the financial statement disclosure regarding contingent liabilities. Once you subtract the amounts represented by the contingent liabilities, our fund balances would be one third less than that shown on our balance sheet and our budget.

Fitness Machines and Track Proposal

A number of people who read the agendas for the December 15th meetings asked for more information regarding the "PE/Fitness Equipment" and the "Track Proposal" (Items E and F on the Committee of the Whole agenda). So, I thought I would post a brief description of both items.

First, the "PE/Fitness Equipment" is a proposal to purchase weight training machines, treadmills, elliptical machines and stationary bicycles for each of the Minooka Intermediate School (the 5th and 6th graders) and the Minooka Junior High School (the 7th and 8th graders). Click here for the proposed fitness room layout at the Minooka Intermediate School, and click here for the proposed fitness room layout at the Minooka Junior High School. The total cost is estimated to be approximately $200,000 (or $100,000 for each school).

Second, the "Track Proposal" is a proposal to construct an all-weather track, soccer field and other track event areas inside the bus loop at the Minooka Intermediate School/Minooka Junior High School campus. Click here for a proposed layout of the track and soccer field. The total cost for this project is estimated to be approximately $1.5 million.

If anyone has further questions regarding these proposals, please do not hesitate to send me an email at dpmartin1775(at)yahoo.com (replace the "(at)" with the "@" sign).

Email Subscriptions Now Available

By popular demand, I have now added email subscription capability to my Minooka 201 blog. Basically, how this works is you subscribe using your email address. After performing a couple of steps to authorize the subscription, you will receive an email of every new post to this blog. Now, you no longer have to check this site from time to time to see if I have added something new. Each time I add something new, presto, you receive an email. The subscription "gadget" appears just after my bio information on the right. Just enter the email address where you would like to receive updates, click the "Subscription" button, follow the steps to validate the subscription, and you are ready to receive updates.

Link to Agenda for December 15, 2010 Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board will take place this Wednesday, December 15, 2010. Click here to be taken to the agendas for the Committee of the Whole Meeting, the Truth in Taxation Hearing and the regular Board Meeting. The Committee of the Whole Meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. The Truth in Taxation Hearing regarding the 2010 tax levy starts at 6:45 p.m. in the gymnasium at the Minooka Primary Center. The Truth in Taxation Hearing will be followed by the regular Board Meeting. Each of the meetings is open to the public and everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend.

Online Education: The Future of K-12 Education?

The internet has changed our lives in many ways, from the way we get our news to the way we shop to the way we keep in touch with people. It also has the potential to change the way in which we educate our children. Many parents who homeschool their children have used the internet for years to access quality curriculum (click here to visit the website of one such online education provider). In addition, in the past few years, many states have started "virtual schools" where public school students can take many or all of their courses online. Recent studies have shown the use of online courses is growing rapidly for K-12 education. Click here for a report from an education consulting firm that keeps up with developments in the use of online K-12 instruction by individual states.

According to the report, the Illinois Virtual School (click here for their website) had approximately 2,500 course enrollments last year (down from about 2,900 the previous year). Florida, by comparison, is one of the leading states with respect to the use of online instruction for K-12 education with over 200,000 course enrollments last year in the Florida Virtual School (click here for their website).

While still in its infancy, online K-12 education presents some interesting possibilities for the future: from expanding course offerings to fit the varied interests of students to allowing students to do some or all of their courses online rather than in the traditional classroom.

Government Transparency: Part III (Video Recorded Meetings?)

Another issue that arises when thinking about government transparency is the question of video recording meetings. Given our current state of technology, it would be relatively easy to video record the Minooka CCSD 201 school board meetings and post the videos to a website where people could view them on their computers. With our busy schedules and so many other things competing for our time, it is difficult for many people to attend school board meetings. Video recording would allow interested persons to watch school board meetings with ease and convenience. There is, however, some time, effort and expense that must be incurred to video record meetings and then post them to a website. So, I would like some feedback from those of you who read this blog. Would this be something that you are interested in? Do you think that it would be worth the time, effort and expense? You can either submit a comment to this blog or email me at dpmartin1775(at)yahoo.com (replace the "(at)" with the "@" symbol).

As you are considering this issue, consider that many other local government bodies in Illinois, including school districts, make videos of their meetings available to the public. Click here, here, here and here for examples of some local government bodies that make video recordings of their meetings available.

Minooka 201 Annual Statement of Affairs for 2010

The Minooka CCSD 201 Annual Statement of Affairs for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010 is now available on the District website. Click here to be taken to the annual statement.

The Back Door Referendum: Part II

My first post on the "back door referendum" has provoked quite a few comments (I have declined to publish the comments to protect anonymity). Some concern has been raised that Minooka CCSD 201 may be considering a "back door referendum" in the near future. At this time, there is no cause for concern. My initial post on this subject was merely for informational purposes. To my knowledge, the Minooka CCSD 201 school board has not had any discussions about an imminent or proposed "back door referendum." If this issue arises in the future, I will publish a post on this blog. It will then be up to the voters to decide if they want to force the school board to put the question to the voters of the district in a subsequent election. According to Illinois law, petitions can not be circulated until a school board has voted on and approved a "back door referendum" and thereby started the 30 day time clock. Interested persons can, however, begin getting together and planning to gather signatures. With decent prior planning and the help of the internet and email, it would be relatively easy to gather the signatures of 10 percent of the registered voters of the district. The people who gathered signatures in the recent Palatine SD 15 case were able to gather hundreds more signatures than they needed.

I have also received a number of questions regarding bonds and school finance in general. In the near future, I will attempt to explain certain aspects of school finance. At the most recent school board convention (a couple of weeks ago), I attended a number of seminars, one of which was on the topic of school finance and issuance of school bonds. I will share what I learned.

Plainfield CCSD 202 Budget Survey

Many school districts in our area and around the state are experiencing budget problems similar to the problems we are experiencing here in Minooka CCSD 201. Plainfield CCSD 202 is one of those school districts that is also trying to eliminate its budget deficit. As part of their deficit reduction process, they have used the internet to gather comments and suggestions from their constituents. Click here to view their web-based deficit reduction survey.

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is December 15, 2010. The Committee of the Whole Meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. The Committee of the Whole Meeting will be followed by the regular Board Meeting at 7 p.m. Please be sure to mark your calendars.

Special Meeting of the Minooka 201 School Board

A special meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board has been scheduled for Wednesday, December 1, 2010. The special meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. Click here for the meeting agenda. As noted in the agenda, we will be discussing district provided health insurance as well as the 2010 audited financial statements. Please be sure to mark your calendars and plan to attend.

Next Minooka 201 Policy Committee Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 Policy Committee is Tuesday, November 30, 2010. The Policy Committee meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. Policy Committee meetings are open to the public, so everyone is welcome to attend. Please be sure to mark your calendars and plan to attend.

Link to Agenda for November 17, 2010 Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board will take place this Wednesday, November 17, 2010. Click here to be taken to the agendas for the Committee of the Whole Meeting and regular Board Meeting. The Committee of the Whole Meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. The Committee of the Whole Meeting will be followed by the regular Board Meeting. Please take the time to attend.

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is November 17, 2010. The Committee of the Whole Meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. The Committee of the Whole Meeting will be followed by the regular Board Meeting at 7 p.m. Please be sure to mark your calendars and plan to attend.

The Back Door Referendum

Typically when school districts such as Minooka CCSD 201 want to raise additional property tax revenues or sell additional bonds, they must put a rate increase referendum or a bond referendum on the ballot and ask the voters to approve the referendum by a majority vote. Illinois law, however, provides the school board with another option, which has come to be known as the "back door referendum." Essentially, the way it works is that the school board is allowed to vote to issue "working capital" bonds. Once the school board approves the working capital bonds, any resident of the district who wishes to protest the issuance of the bonds has 30 days to gather the signatures of 10 percent of the registered voters in the district. If they are able to do this within the 30 day time limit, then the school board must put the issuance of the bonds to the decision of the voters in a referendum at the next election. If no person protests the issuance of the bonds and gathers the appropriate number of signatures, then the school district is allowed to issue the bonds. This turns the usual bond issuance process on its head. Under the normal process, bonds are only allowed to be issued upon a majority vote in a referendum. Here, bonds are allowed to be issued unless the protest of 10 percent of the registered voters forces a referendum. Hence, the term "back door referendum." The bond issuance sneaks in through the back door unless 10 percent of the registered voters close the back door.

Because voters typically do not keep a watchful eye on their elected representatives and because the time frame to gather the required signatures is fairly short, "back door referendums" are usually successful. Since this process has been available to school boards, there are very few instances in which voters have forced a referendum. The difficult economy and the internet may change that, however. In the past year, some concerned citizens in Palatine School District 15 were able to force a referendum on the issuance of $27 million in "working capital" bonds. In the recent election on November 2, the voters in that district voted "NO" on the referendum by a vote of 67 percent to 33 percent. You can read about it here, here, here and here.

Veterans Day at Minooka 201

Veterans Day is November 11. Some of the Minooka CCSD 201 schools will be having Veterans Day activities on Tuesday, November 9, and the remainder of the schools will be having Veterans Day activities on November 11.

Next Minooka 201 Finance Committee Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 Finance Committee is Tuesday, November 9, 2010. The Finance Committee meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. Finance Committee meetings are open to the public, so everyone is welcome to attend. We will be discussing the state of the District's finances. We are still operating at a deficit, so we may be discussing additional budget cutting measures. Please be sure to mark your calendars and plan to attend.

Minooka 201 Salaries, Benefits and Contracts

The Minooka CCSD 201 salary, benefit and contract information (including collective bargaining agreements) is available on the District website. Click here and here to be taken to this information.

Minooka 201 Salary Information

As an Illinois public school district, Minooka CCSD 201, reports its salary information to the Illinois State Board of Education on an annual basis. The Family Taxpayer Foundation is an organization that provides this information in a easy to search format. Click here to be taken to the page where you can search for salary information. Just enter "Minooka" in the box marked "District" and click the "search" button. Then choose "Minooka CCSD 201" and the salary information will appear. Click here to be taken to the Family Taxpayer Foundation home page. It may also be interesting to search other nearby districts for comparison.

Minooka 201 Audit Report June 2009

The Minooka CCSD 201 Audit Report dated June 30, 2009 is now available on the District website. Click here to be taken to the audit report.

Representative Democracy

A local school board, such as the Minooka CCSD 201 school board, is an exercise in representative democracy. The Minooka CCSD 201 school board is better able to make informed decisions when residents of the school district voice their concerns and opinions. I realize that most people lead hectic lives, so if you don't have the time to attend school board meetings and voice your concerns and opinions in person, please feel free to send me an email at the following email address: dpmartin1775(at)yahoo.com (you have to replace the "(at)" with the "@" symbol-I spelled it out in an attempt to foil spammers).

Now, it is impossible for any representative body, including the Minooka CCSD 201 school board, to satisfy all of their constituents at the same time. Each person has their own opinions and concerns which may conflict with the opinions and concerns of others. But, I believe government works best when it is transparent (shares all possible information) and held accountable (voters continue to stay involved and vocal, not merely during election season).

Link to Agenda for October 27, 2010 Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board will take place this Wednesday, October 27, 2010. Click here to be taken to the agendas for the Committee of the Whole Meeting and regular Board Meeting. The Committee of the Whole Meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. The Committee of the Whole Meeting will be followed by the regular Board Meeting. Please take the time to attend.

Minooka 201 FOIA Request Information

Minooka CCSD 201 now has its FOIA request information posted on the District website. Click here to be taken to the FOIA request information.

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is October 27, 2010. The Committee of the Whole Meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. The Committee of the Whole Meeting will be followed by the regular Board Meeting at 7 p.m. Please be sure to mark your calendars.

Government Transparency: Part II

In researching how other local governments (including many here in Illinois) are striving to become more transparent, I came across the following website of the Illinois Policy Institute. One of their major projects is called the Local Transparency Project. As part of the project, they conduct "transparency audits" of local governments. You can read all about it by clicking on the link above. One page of their website provides a list of items that they believe should be provided on a local government's website, their rationale and examples of Illinois local governments and others (including links to those government websites) that provide such information. Sunshine Review is another resource for government transparency.

Government Transparency

In a democratic Republic, government is the servant of the people, not their master. As such, government entities must operate in such a way to enable the people to hold their public servants accountable. Transparency is the key to enabling people to hold their public servants accountable.

In the words of a couple of important Illinois statutes:

"It is the public policy of this State that public bodies exist to aid in the conduct of the people’s business and that the people have a right to be informed as to the conduct of their business."
- Illinois Open Meetings Act, 5 ILCS 120/1.

"Pursuant to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of government, it is declared to be the public policy of the State of Illinois that all persons are entitled to full and complete information regarding the affairs of government and the official acts and policies of those who represent them as public officials and public employees consistent with the terms of this Act. Such access is necessary to enable the people to fulfill their duties of discussing public issues fully and freely, making informed political judgments and monitoring government to ensure that it is being conducted in the public interest."
- Illinois Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140/1.

As one of your elected public servants, I would like to see Minooka CCSD 201 run in the most transparent manner possible (consistent with applicable privacy laws).

To further transparency in Minooka CCSD 201, I am recommending the following steps be taken:

1. Posting of board packets (prior to school board meetings) to the District website. Any information for executive sessions should be removed and distributed to school board members separately.
2. Posting of District financial information (including the long form budgets, audits, Treasurer's reports, and monthly lists of bills) to the District website.
3. Posting of contact information (phone number and email address) of current school board members to the District website.
4. Posting of salary & benefit information to the District website.
5. Posting of all contracts (including vendor contracts and collective bargaining agreements) to the District website.
6. Posting of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) officer contact information (as well instructions regarding how to submit FOIA requests) to the District website.

I believe these steps are fairly easy given the current state of District technology. I also believe these steps will go a long way to ensuring that Minooka CCSD 201 is run in a manner that is transparent to the public. If anyone has any additional ideas regarding transparency, please feel free to post a comment.

Parental Involvement: A Huge Factor in a Child's Education

Many research studies have concluded that the single most important factor in a child's educational success is parental involvement (click here for a State of Michigan publication summarizing some of these findings). You read that right. It's not socio-economic status, per pupil expenditures, or access to technology. It's good old-fashioned parental involvement. It's parents taking the primary responsibility for their child's education (after all, the first and most important authority in a child's education rests with his or her parents) . It's parents setting high standards and ensuring their children work to achieve them. It's parents reading to their children and helping them with homework. It's parents asking questions about what their child is learning in school, what textbooks they are using, and what standards they are being held to. It's parents getting involved with their child's classroom, school and school district. It's parents holding the school board and administration accountable to spend the community's tax dollars in the most efficient manner to provide the best educational opportunities possible with those tax dollars.

If you are already involved, great! If you are not yet involved, why not? You could and should have a huge impact on your child's educational success.

Gifted Education

Each year our administrators and school board members are invited to attend a joint conference of the Illinois Association of School Boards, Illinois Association of School Administrators, and Illinois Association of School Business Officials. The conference is in Chicago in November. At the conference, various seminars are offered on issues of interest to administrators, school board members and business officials. One of the seminars I attended last year was focused on educational opportunities for gifted children. The presenters shared a number of techniques which school districts can employ to help gifted children at little to no cost to the school district (our District already employs some of these techniques). They also recommended reading a study funded by the John Templeton Foundation regarding the basis for and effects of these techniques. The study consists of two thought-provoking volumes (click here for volume 1)(click here for volume 2). If you have any interest in gifted education, it may be worth your while to read the study. You may also be interested in perusing the website of the Institute for Research and Policy on Acceleration at the University of Iowa.

School Board Nominating Petitions Available

If anyone is interested in serving on the Minooka CCSD 201 school board, nominating petitions are now available for the April 5, 2011 election. Click here to be taken to the District information release regarding the nominating petitions.

Link to Agenda for September 22, 2010 Board Meeting

Click here to be taken to the agendas for the Committee of the Whole Meeting, Budget Hearing, and regular Board Meeting taking place this Wednesday, September 22, 2010. The Committee of the Whole Meeting starts at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka. The Committee of the Whole Meeting will be followed by the Budget Hearing and then the regular Board Meeting. Please take the time to attend.

Link to Financial Projections

Click here for a link to financial projections which Mr. Gegenheimer presented to the Finance Committee on April 15, 2010 and are updated to reflect the deficit reduction measures that were taken or are being implemented. One thing it does not reflect, however, is a loss of approximately $700,000 of state aid for the 2010-2011 fiscal year (which the board learned about last month). Click here for a link to the Finance Committee page on the district's website. The meetings of the Finance Committee are open to the public, and everyone is welcome to attend.

Link to Proposed 2010-2011 Budget

Click here to be taken to the Minooka CCSD 201 proposed budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. And, for comparison, click here to be taken to the Minooka CCSD 201 budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

Welcome to a New School Year!

Parents, taxpayers and employees of Minooka Community Consolidated School District 201,

Welcome to a brand new school year! This is your school district. I would like to encourage you to attend our school board meetings and provide your input to the school board. Our school board meetings for the remainder of the school year are as follows:

September 22, 2010
October 27, 2010
November 17, 2010
December 15, 2010
January 26, 2010
February 23, 2010
March 16, 2010
April 27, 2010
May 25, 2010

School board meetings are now held at the Minooka Primary Center at 305 Church St., Minooka, IL 60447. A "Committee of the Whole" meeting takes place at 6:00 p.m. before the regular school board meeting in the Minooka School District Office board room (the old library). At 7:00 p.m., the school board moves to the gymnasium for the public recognition portion the meeting. After the public recognition portion of the meeting, the school board moves back to the board room (the old library) for the remainder of the meeting. Both the Committee of the Whole meeting and the regular school board meeting are open to the public.

At our very next meeting (on September 22nd), the school board will be discussing and voting on the budget for the 2010-2011 school year. Approving a budget is one of the most important responsibilities of the school board.

Again, I encourage you to attend (especially the business portions of the meetings) and provide your input. (You will need to fill out and submit this form at the beginning of the meeting to request to address the school board.) The decisions made by the school board affect every parent, child, taxpayer and employee in the district.