Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is Wednesday, December 18, 2013. 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 a Truth in Taxation (tax levy) hearing at 6:45 in the gymnasium. The Truth in Taxation hearing will then be followed by the regular Board Meeting at 7 p.m. All of the meetings are open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. You can find the agenda for each of the meetings here.

The information for the Truth in Taxation (tax levy) hearing can be viewed here.  Notice that among the amounts proposed to be levied is an amount ($650,000.00) for the tort immunity fund.  (For a discussion of this fund and the risk management plans that are used to "justify" these levies, see here.)  The school board adopted a new risk management plan last year for this purpose.  Notice, however, that the district levied $1,874,457.00 in the tort immunity fund the year prior to adopting the new risk management plan.  It is very possible that such levy was excessive based on the risk management plan that was then in place.

Detroit Bankruptcy a Wake-up Call for Pensioners

This article from the New York Post is a must read for anyone who has a municipal pension.  State pensions may not be far behind.  All it would take is an amendment to the federal bankruptcy law to allow states to declare bankruptcy.

Catholic Scholars Come Out In Opposition to Common Core

Whether or not you are Catholic, if you are concerned about your child's education and the changes mandated by Illinois' adoption of the Common Core, you should read this letter.  These scholars are, of course, writing in order to persuade Catholic bishops not to adopt Common Core for Catholic schools in their dioceses, but many of the points they make about Common Core are equally valid arguments for why parents, educators and politicians in Illinois (and elsewhere) should reject the Common Core.

The debate over Common Core is not over.  In fact, it is just beginning.

Perhaps John Kass Should Write an Article About the Common Core

So, I saw this article written by John Kass of the Chicago Tribune in the paper this weekend.  This article is, of course, about ObamaCare, but a similar article could easily be written about the Common Core State Standards.  Perhaps not yet, since ObamaCare is blowing up in Americans' faces in a very quick and obvious manner, and it may take years for the damage done by the Common Core to be recognized for what it is.  In the not too distant future, however, I fully expect to see similar articles about the Common Core when that grand design crumbles.

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is Wednesday, November 20, 2013. 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. Both meetings are open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. You can find the agenda for each of the meetings here.

My Prediction for Common Core

Anyone that has read my blog recently knows that I am not a proponent of the Common Core State Standards (the "Common Core").  My reason for opposing the Common Core is that I do not believe that they will be positive for education.  In fact, I believe that they will be a dismal failure, a straight-jacket that will drag most children down.

I predict that in the coming years, more and more people will realize that the Common Core represents the latest in a long line of failures of the education establishment (remember when No Child Left Behind was touted as the "end all/be all" of education).  Unfortunately, the failure of the Common Core may perhaps be counted as the worst due to it being implemented on such a wide scale (at least No Child Left Behind did not dictate one national set of standards).  We have essentially created a nation of educational guinea pigs and shackled them to an untested and unchangeable set of standards.

We have abandoned the model of judging and implementing educational change on a local level in favor of judging and implementing on a national level.  One huge problem with that is that when we make mistakes (and we are bound to make mistakes since we are still human after all), the mistakes are made on a national level and the harm will be felt on a national level.  Another huge problem with that is that we (or at least some of us) have decided to stop judging whether something is good or bad for our children's education ("It doesn't matter whether I think it's good for the children or not, we have to implement it.").

We have also abandoned the notion that all children are unique.  We have adopted a one size fits all solution for a one size fits very few issue.  Common Core is the "Model T" solution to education (Henry Ford, when producing the Model T in the early 1900s, is reputed to have said "You can have a Model T in any color you want as long as it's black.").  In a world where almost everything is customized to the particular needs of the end user, we are telling children they can have any type of education they and their parents want as long as it's Common Core.  We no longer see each child as a unique human being whose education should uniquely fit their needs.  Rather, we see children as a collective entity whose education must follow the Common Core (while we all mutter the mantra "Common Core, Common Core, we must serve the Common Core"), their needs be damned.

We have adopted a model of education that is based on unmitigated hubris: the notions that (1) a few educational elites could possibly determine the one right set of standards for the education of millions of children that they have never met and will never meet; (2) this new and untested set of standards is superior to any and all standards that came before it or (since there is no provision for changing the standards) after it; (3) that no one who wasn't involved in the promulgation of the Common Core has a superior idea about the education of even one of the children in the states that adopted it; and (4) (perhaps the worst) that regardless of whether it works for a particular child or children, it must be implemented and followed (besides, who are you to judge, see (1) above).

I hope for the sake of the millions of children who are being and will be subjected to the Common Core that I am wrong.  But, the limits of human intelligence being what they are and the dismal track record of the education establishment being what it is, I fear that I am correct in my assessment of the Common Core.

Is It Time to Dump Standardized Tests?

Well, that seems to be at least one person's opinion.  See this commentary from the Chicago Tribune.

How Not to Roll Out a Change in Curriculum

The manner in which Minooka CCSD 201 rolled out the new Go Math "pilot" program could be easily labeled "how not to roll out a change in curriculum."  First, the pilot program was first mentioned to the school board in May of last year (the end of the last school year).  The rush to implement the Go Math pilot was due to the anticipated arrival of the new PARCC test in 2014 (see here for more information).  This, of course, meant that parents were given no warning that the math curriculum in many of the classrooms would be different from what they were expecting it to be.  It also meant that teachers were given no advance training prior to the start of the new school year.  Okay, maybe they had one or two days of teacher institute days to get up to speed.  As a result, teachers were learning how to teach the new curriculum at the same time that they were expected to be teaching students.  Second, only after it became clear that there were issues with the new curriculum did the district send out a letter to parents notifying them of "Parent Curriculum Information Meetings" to inform them about the new curriculum.  The schedule of meetings, by the way, is as follows:

October 2nd - Aux Sable Elementary School 5:30-7:00PM (already held)

November 13th - Minooka Intermediate School 9:00-10:30AM

December 4th - Walnut Trails Elementary School 9:00-10:30AM

January 15th - Minooka Junior High School 5:30-7:00PM

February 6th - Jones Elementary School 5:30-7:00PM

March 19th - Minooka Elementary School 9:00-10:30AM

You are free to go to any of these curriculum meetings.  You do not have to wait until a meeting is held at your child's school.

Now if you are a parent and decide to go to one of these meetings be prepared to hear the following (or something like it):

1.  "There were similar outcries from parents and teachers when Saxon Math was adopted a decade ago."  This may be true.  I don't know, since I wasn't there.  But that doesn't mean that the current complaints are any less valid.  Each curriculum should be judged on its own merits.

2.   "Go Math is research-based."  This one I love.  You hear the term "research-based" thrown around quite often when you talk to school administrators.  Very rarely, if ever, do they back up that statement by citing any research.  The statement insinuates, of course, that Saxon Math (or the alternative to whatever it is that they are promoting at the time) is not "research-based."  So, what should be the relevant decision criteria when choosing a math curriculum?  Whether it is supposedly "research-based" or whether it has a proven track record of inculcating a thorough understanding of mathematics and teaching children efficient methods of solving mathematical problems?

3. The high ISAT scores that Minooka CCSD 201 students achieved during the years of being taught with Saxon Math were "phantom scores" or "inflated scores."  It is funny that this was never mentioned before.  So, either this is true and the administration has been touting "phony" scores all these years, or this is false and is a less than honest shot at Saxon Math.  Either way, it is problematic.  So, in the future when the administration touts the scores that students achieve on standardized tests (or any test for that matter), we will have to wonder if the scores mean anything or will we be told at some future date that they were "phantom" scores all along.

Now, I am not at all under the misconception that Saxon Math is perfect (no curriculum is).  What I have an issue with is choosing a mathematics curriculum because of a new standardized test (rather than the quality of the math education that it provides) and rolling it out without proper preparation.

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is Wednesday, October 23, 2013. 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. Both meetings are open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. You can find the agenda for each of the meetings here.

The Myth of Untarnished U.S. Credit History

"History is the lie commonly agreed upon."  --Voltaire

"What you do in this world is a matter of no consequence. The question is what can you make people believe you have done."  --Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet

Every so often, I post about a topic that reaches far beyond the confines of Minooka CCSD 201 but nonetheless affects the district and the people that live in the district.  The current federal government shutdown, the debt ceiling debate and the trajectory of federal debt are issues that affect all of us.  No matter where a person stands on the issues, it is always a good idea to approach the issues without any myths or misconceptions about what has come before (i.e., the past).

Numerous leading political figures have been making statements about the untarnished credit history of the United States.  The following is a sample:

"There is no magic wand that allows us to wish away the chaos that could result if -- for the first time in our history -- we don't pay our bills on time."  --President Barack Obama

"No Congress in 224 years of American history has allowed our country to default, and it’s my sincere hope that this Congress will not be the first."  --Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew

"There is precedent for a government shutdown.  There's no precedent for default."  --Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs

The facts, however, seem to intrude upon this narrative of an untarnished U.S. credit history.  The United States has defaulted on its obligations many times in its history (for a sampling of articles discussing previous defaults, see here, here, here, here, and here).

The list of U.S. defaults include the following:

1.  1814 - Under President James Madison, U.S. defaults on debt payments for a few months in the wake of the War of 1812.
2.  1862 - Under President Abraham Lincoln, U.S. defaults on "greenback" demand notes by refusing to redeem them in gold as promised.
3.  1933 - Under President Franklin Roosevelt, U.S. defaults on the "gold clause" in its debt contracts and pays in paper dollars rather than gold.
4.  1968 - Under President Lyndon Johnson, U.S. defaults on "silver certificates" by refusing to redeem them in silver as promised.
5.  1971 - Under President Richard Nixon, U.S. defaults on the Bretton Woods international currency arrangement and ceases to exchange dollars for gold.
6.  1979 - Under President Jimmy Carter, U.S. defaults on certain debt obligations due to back office "glitch" at Treasury.

So, let us debate the issues regarding the shutdown, debt ceiling and the trajectory of debt.  But, let us do so without the myth of a default being unprecedented in U.S. history.

Sales Tax Redux

The Grundy Economic Development Council and Grundy County Chamber of Commerce and Industry are hosting a meeting and presentation regarding the proposed County School Facility Tax (the proposed sales tax increase which I have previously written about here and here) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 22, in the board room of the Grundy County Administration Center.  The address is 1320 Union St., Morris.  The public is welcome to attend this meeting.

The meeting will feature a presentation from representatives of Stifel, Nicolaus, an investment banking firm based in St. Louis, Missouri.  They, of course, will tell everyone that they are doing this out of the "goodness of their hearts" and have "no financial interest" in seeing a sales tax increase pass.  I find that hard to believe, when they make their money by helping school districts to float bond issuances, and there will be a lot of money to be made on those if this sales tax passes in Grundy County.  Mark my words, if the sales tax passes, and Grundy County schools float bonds based on the anticipated revenue from this sales tax, you will see Stifel, Nicolaus and their ilk collecting handsome fees from Grundy County school districts.

An additional side note:  the County School Facility Tax has been defeated twice in neighboring LaSalle County (the second time around the percentage opposed was greater than the first time around). 

A Thought Provoking Read for Parents

A thought provoking article for parents (and others).

The First Casualty of the Common Core: Math

Perhaps you have heard that Minooka 201 is piloting a new math curriculum in elementary school.  The name of the new curriculum is Go Math.  The curriculum that Minooka 201 had been using exclusively in the elementary grades up to this year was Saxon Math.  Now, some classes are using Go Math and the other classes are using Saxon Math.

Why the change?  Was Saxon Math not a good curriculum?  Were the children not doing well in math?  Actually, the children were doing very well in math.  I am not one to base my decisions on standardized test scores, but math is one subject where test scores are useful since mathematics deals with objectively right or wrong answers.  Based on the test scores, Minooka elementary students were performing very well.  Our scores in math were consistently in the high 80s and 90s.

No, the reason for the change was the new Common Core State Standards.  Go Math, the administration was told, was aligned with the Common Core.  Saxon Math was "not quite aligned."  Therefore, Saxon Math would have to go.  Never mind that students were seemingly doing very well in math.  Never mind that Saxon Math actually utilizes a "spiraling" methodology where skills are built up step by step and previously introduced skills are constantly reviewed.

So how is the pilot of Go Math going?  Well, from purely anecdotal evidence, it is a slow motion car wreck.  And, perhaps, that is no accident, since the only mathmetician on the validating committee for the Common Core State Standards, Professor James Milgram of Stanford University, refused to sign-off on the math standards of the Common Core and has since publicly opposed implementation of the standards (see here, and here).  In addition, the District administration rushed into their decision to pilot Go Math at the end of the last school year without adequate preparation or training for the teachers, thus compounding the problems.

If your children were doing well in math, perhaps even enjoying math, and are now doing poorly in math, perhaps even hating math, it may be due to the Go Math pilot and the new Common Core State Standards.  And, if you are of a mind to complain about the Go Math pilot and/or the way in which it was implemented, approaching your child's teacher is of limited value since the teachers have no authority to change curriculum.  Any complaints should be directed to the Assistant Superintendent (for curriculum), the Superintendent and/or the school board.

Common Core Standards: Fact vs. Myth (vs. Propaganda) . . . Part III

I thought I would share a recent article by another critic of the Common Core State Standards.  The article is entitled "The Biggest Fallacy of the Common Core Standards."

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting and Budget Hearing

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is Wednesday, September 25, 2013. 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 a Budget Hearing at 6:45 p.m. in the gymnasium.  The Budget Hearing will be followed by the regular Board Meeting at 7 p.m. Each of the meetings is open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. You can find the agenda for each of the meetings here.  In addition, for those who are interested, click here and here for information regarding issues that will be discussed at the Committee of the Whole Meeting and the Board Meeting.

The proposed budget for fiscal year 2013-2014 can be found here.

Common Core Standards: Fact vs. Myth (vs. Propaganda) . . . Part II

In a previous post (see here), I talked about the Common Core State Standards and the propaganda machine at the Illinois State Board of Education.  Well, it seems that the propaganda machine has shifted into high gear as schools throughout Illinois begin to implement the new curriculum.  They have come up with approved information releases and even suggested "tweets" for administrators and teachers to send out to parents and others in order to influence them into accepting the new curriculum (see here, here, here, here, and here).

Let's examine just one of the elements of propaganda in this post.  One oft repeated element of propaganda regarding the Common Core is that it is not a national curriculum and is not being imposed upon the states by the federal government.  There are two parts to this.  First, there is the issue of a national curriculum.  It is very difficult to argue that the Common Core does not represent a national curriculum.  Now it is true that not all of the states have signed on to implement the Common Core (forty-four states and the District of Columbia have signed on to implement the Common Core), but it might as well be the entire nation.  Second, there is the issue of Common Core being imposed by the federal government.  No, there is no federal law requiring the states to implement the Common Core.  The federal government has, however, tied the grant of certain education dollars to the implementation of the Common Core (including the testing and data gathering that goes with it).  So, rather than using a stick, the federal government is using a carrot, in much the same way that the federal government in the 1980s used the carrot of withholding highway funding unless the states increased their drinking ages to 21.  And, guess what . . . all the states raised their drinking ages to 21 since they could not maintain the highways without federal money.  Likewise, it is easy to see why the vast majority of states signed on to implement the Common Core.

Why is this an issue?  Why does the Illinois State Board of Education (and others) so often stress that this is not a national curriculum imposed by the federal government?  Well, perhaps it is because a national curriculum would violate current federal law (see this report).  Or, perhaps it is because parents and others are justifiably wary of a national curriculum imposed by the federal government.

Our children are much more likely to need to be continuous learners than previous generations.  The pace of technological change and innovation has increased throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century.  A rigid, top-down model (whether imposed by a consortium of states or the federal government) is exactly what is NOT needed in the face of this type of world (if indeed it was ever needed).  A flexible, bottom-up model (where freedom and innovation are valued and each child is treated as an individual rather than a widget) is what is needed.  The Common Core State Standards will shackle the vast majority of primary and secondary students in the United States to a rigid set of standards which are bound to fail to provide a quality education.  And, when it begins to become clear to a great many people that the Common Core State Standards are failing our children, it will take a great deal of time and political will to remove them due to their being imposed on a statewide and almost national basis.

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is Wednesday, August 21, 2013. 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. Both meetings are open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. You can find the agenda for each of the meetings here. In addition, for those who are interested, click here and here for information regarding issues that will be discussed at the Committee of the Whole Meeting and the Board Meeting.

Parental Rights Regarding Education of Children

Many parents are unaware of their legal rights in determining the education of their children. Many give too much deference, in my opinion, to the "education establishment."  Please don't misunderstand me. I am not disparaging teachers. What I am saying is that a parent's right to determine the content, character and moral principles of their child's education trumps the interest of the school and/or the state.

The institution of public education is a relatively recent phenomenon in the history of the United States. For much of our history, parental rights regarding the amount, type, scope and content of their children's education were unquestioned (largely because it was the parents who provided or contracted for such education). It was not until 1925 that the United States Supreme Court made a definitive pronouncement on this issue. In a case called Pierce v. Society of Sisters, the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated an Oregon compulsory education law which would have required all parents to send their children to public schools. In a unanimous decision, the Court said the following: "The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excluded any general power of the state to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only. The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right and the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations." In other words, a state may require that children receive a certain amount of education in terms of years, etc. But, the manner in which that education is to be received, whether in public school, private school or home school, is to be determined by the parents.

The principle from this case (Pierce v. Society of Sisters) has been cited countless times as the basic principle of parental rights in education. If you understand this principle, then you understand that the ultimate authority regarding the content of a child's education is the parent. If the public school to which you send your children is not meeting your standards in terms of quality or content, then you as the parent have the right to send your child to private school or remove them from the school system completely and home school them. (In the past, homeschooling may have presented parents with seemingly insurmountable issues, but with the advent of internet schools, homeschooling is accessable to many more parents.)

Even within the public school system, parents can have a great deal of input in terms of content and quality of education. Every parent (indeed every citizen) in Illinois has the right to review all of the books and other materials that are part of the public school curriculum. All you have to do is go into one of the schools and request to review the materials. Frankly, every parent should do this on a regular basis. You have every right to know what is in the textbooks and other materials that are being used to instruct your children. Additionally, you have the right to be heard regarding your concerns, if any, about these materials. You can discuss these concerns with the teacher, the principals, the superintendent and the school board (you can go directly to the school board by showing up at a meeting and being heard during the public comment section of the meeting).

In addition to the above, Federal law protects the rights of parents regarding information kept by schools regarding their children. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act protects the rights of parents to access and inspect student information collected and kept by schools. It also prevents disclosure of this information except for certain specified purposes.

In the end, they are your children, and the right to determine the content of their education belongs to you as parents.

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is Wednesday, July 24, 2013. 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. Both meetings are open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. You can find the agenda for each of the meetings here. In addition, for those who are interested, click here and here for information regarding issues that will be discussed at the Committee of the Whole Meeting and the Board Meeting.

Common Core Standards: Fact vs. Myth (vs. Propaganda)

As you may or may not be aware, Minooka CCSD 201 (along with every other public elementary or secondary school in Illinois and forty-four other states) will be changing its curriculum to align with something called the "Common Core standards."  You can read about the Common Core State Standards Initiative at their website.

I could go on for pages about the problems with the Common Core standards: how they mark the end of local control over what children are taught in public schools, how it is a remarkable display of hubris to think that somehow a handful of people can dictate educational standards to a multitude as if no one in the multitude might have any good ideas about educational standards, how they are a misguided top-down effort at management that won't work any better than the top-down management of "command and control" economies such as the old Soviet Union, or how they will become a straight-jacket to experimentation and ingenuity much like the once-vaunted No Child Left Behind.  (Others have also pointed out problems with the Common Core, which may or may not be the ones I have pointed out.  See here and here.)

Well, it appears that there are more than a few people (other than myself) who are not too excited about Illinois signing on to implement the Common Core standards.  So much so that the Illinois State Superintendent Christopher Koch included the following in his weekly message:  "I know some of you are receiving pushback (sic) on the Common Core standards that we are implementing in Illinois. The criticism is based on a misguided perception that the Common Core is an attempt by the federal government to take over education. We've put together a couple of documents you may access at [link].  Among the documents are responses to several questions that seem to be at the root of a coordinated campaign as well as a general overview of the Common Core based on facts."  If you click the link above (which I recommend), you are treated to something that purports to be the "Facts vs Myth" of the Common Core standards.  Now, it becomes clear to me early on that what purports to be the "Facts vs Myth" is really nothing more than a "coordinated campaign" of propaganda.  You can usually spot propaganda by the use of very general language that no one in their right mind would disagree with.  For example, we are told in "Facts vs Myth" that "Common Core Standards are benchmarks developed by teachers, administrators and other education experts through a national consortium."  Well, who could argue with that?  Everyone agrees that we need "benchmarks" in education.  But, wait.  I thought that one of the hallmarks of the American public education system was local control.  The Illinois School Code even states that one of the primary duties of the local school board is to approve the curriculum.  I guess voters at the local level don't get to decide that anymore.  In another sentence, we are told that the Common Core standards "aim to bring more consistency and uniformity . . . from one state to another . . . ."  Again, who could argue with "consistency and uniformity?"  Where is the problem there?  I sure hope they don't get the Common Core standards wrong, otherwise the educational system of virtually the entire nation will have standards that are consistently and uniformly wrong.

I have merely scratched the surface in terms of picking apart "Facts vs Myth" for the monumental exercise in propaganda that it represents.  Be sure to read through it, but don't take it at face value.  Someone is trying to sell you a "bill of goods."

Another question that this raises is, whether the local voters get any input into these Common Core standards?  According to "Facts vs Myth," "Illinoisans had the opportunity to provide feedback on the Common Core State Standards during two public comment periods."  So, now that those two comment periods are over, we no longer get a say in the matter.  Oh, and don't give us any "push back," or we'll come out with another "Facts vs Myths" website to convince you that we are right and you, the voter, don't get to speak to us about this anymore.

Physical Education and Academics

According to a recent report, physical education is so important that it should be a "core academic subject." (see here)  So, why is it that Illinois schools are constantly trying to get waivers from the state to remove physical education from the school day?

This idea that physical education is closely tied to intellectual education is nothing new.  The Latin phrase "mens sana in corpore sano" ("a sound mind in a sound body") expressed the same idea.  The ancient Romans were well acquainted with this idea.  Why do we insist on having to relearn things that have been known for centuries?

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is Wednesday, June 26, 2013. 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. Both meetings are open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. You can find the agenda for each of the meetings here. In addition, for those who are interested, click here and here for information regarding issues that will be discussed at the Committee of the Whole Meeting and the Board Meeting.

Testing Gone Wild . . . Part 2

Just when you thought that our students couldn't be subjected to more tests, the State of Illinois decides to replace the ISAT (Illinois Standard Achievement Test) with PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers).  PARCC consists of four separate tests during the school year (see here).  So, on top of all of the current testing (including DRA testing, Discovery testing and CRT testing), our students will have PARCC testing (educators are beginning to give the Army some stiff competition in the acronym department).  One might wonder, with all of this testing and only 180 days in the school year, exactly when are the teachers going to teach?  And are they merely going to be expected to teach to the tests?

Ostensibly, all of this testing is being done in order to gather "data" so that teachers can differentiate instruction for each student. But, teachers do this each and every day through observing their students in the classroom.

And what is going to happen to the students who do not perform well on standardized tests but who perform well on less formal evaluations?  I suspect that those students are going to suffer since the test scores will become the "end all and be all" of education (if they aren't already).

Get Ready for the Largest Municipal Bankruptcy in U.S. History

In his book The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway penned a classic exchange regarding bankruptcy.  "How did you go bankrupt?," asked one character.  "Two ways.  Gradually, then suddenly." was the reply.

Well, the same can certainly be said of Detroit, Michigan.  Detroit is getting ever closer to declaring bankruptcy (see here).  If Detroit does declare bankruptcy, it would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in the history of the United States.

What does this have to do with Minooka CCSD 201?  Well, most of us know that the State of Illinois has financial trouble of its own, including the worst underfunded pensions in the nation and pension contributions that are increasingly eating into current services.  Well, if you follow the link above and read the article, you will notice that the Detroit emergency financial manager, Mr. Orr, is contemplating a plan where, among other things, retirees will receive less than 10% of their promised benefits under the current pension plan.  I am quite sure that this is going to cause a great deal of financial hardship for those retirees.  One lesson that we can learn from Detroit's example is that when a municipality (or perhaps a state, in the case of Illinois) gets into serious financial trouble (and by all accounts Illinois is already there), the "promises" that were made pursuant to a pension plan become negotiable.

Now a state is different in at least one important respect: under current law, states cannot file for bankruptcy protection.  They can, however, renegotiate "promises," and you can be sure that they will.  States after all go bankrupt (or become insolvent) just like any other entity . . . "[g]radually, then suddenly."

Why I Oppose a Sales Tax Increase for Grundy County

At a recent joint school board meeting of Grundy County school boards, the possibility of asking voters to approve a School Facility Occupation Tax for Grundy County was discussed.  For more background on this tax, see here.

As a member of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board and as a voter, I will be voting "NO" on the question of the tax increase.  Here is why:

1.  I have two children, currently attending Minooka CCSD 201 schools, who will one day be taxpayers.  I would like them to be able to afford to live in Grundy County if they so choose.  I am therefore opposed to increasing their future tax burden.  This is not a one time referendum for issuing bonds to build a school or two.  This is a permanent tax increase.  There is no provision in the statute for a county to decide that this tax is no longer needed (if it ever truly was).  So, on top of a recent 67% increase in the state income tax (from 3% to 5%), we would be piling on a 16% increase in our sales tax (from 6.25% to 7.25%).  I know many people are going to say that "this is for the children" (in fact, I have already heard this), but we should be careful what we do "for the children."  The people that are children right now are going to be taxpayers one day.  We should do everything in our power not to burden them with additional taxes.  Otherwise, they may find that it is too expensive to live in the communities in which they were raised.

2.  This would be a pure tax increase no matter what anyone would lead you to believe.  This is not swapping one form of tax for another.  It has been argued that school districts could lower their property tax levies to offset the impact of this tax.   Even if they could, that does not mean that they will.  There is no provision which requires them to lower property taxes in response to increased revenue from a sales tax.  If you think that some or even any school districts would lower their property tax levies in response to an increased sales tax, you are putting a lot of faith in school boards to look out for the interests of taxpayers.  A school board may promise to do this in order to get the voters to support the sales tax increase, but such a school board would have no legal obligation to fulfill the promise and, in any event, cannot bind a future school board (remember, the tax increase would be permanent).

3.  Voters will be giving up an enormous amount of control over spending on school facilities.  As it stands right now, school districts must come to the voters for approval to issue bonds for capital projects such as building new facilities or improving old facilities.  With this tax increase in place, the voters will be giving up the ability to control such spending.  School boards will no longer need to "sell" projects to the voters.

4.  This money will burn a hole in the pockets of many school boards.  Governments, even more than individuals, have a tendency to burn through any money that they can get their hands on.  If there is no pressing need to spend and they have money, they spend on what are arguably wasteful projects.  Right now, many school districts are feeling the pain of the recession (which brought about falling property tax revenues) and are looking for a way to raise more money.  Rather than cutting back on spending to make it through the rough patch, they want to increase revenue.  Once we get through this rough patch, however, they will still be collecting money through this tax, even though they will no longer need the revenue.  Again, this tax is permanent.  You will be paying the tax whether the school districts need it or not.  And it can only be spent on school facilities.

5.  The revenue from any potential tax increase can only be spent on school facilities.  It can not be spent "in the classroom."  Some school districts in Grundy County may need new facilities now or in the future.  This tax would be collected on behalf of all the school districts in Grundy County whether they need new facilities or not.  Let those school districts that have a need for new or improved facilities ask the voters of their districts for approval to issue bonds to fund such projects.  That way, taxpayers in those districts that don't have such a need will not have an additional tax burden.

6.  A sales tax is the most regressive form of taxation.  That is, it has the most impact on those who are least able to pay the tax.  Everyone who buys goods in the county will see their sales taxes increase.

7.  There has been some talk about how many people who are not residents of Grundy County will pay this sales tax.  Well, I doubt that the percentage of such people is very high compared to those of us that live and shop in Grundy County.  So, I doubt that there will be much of a subsidy from non-residents.  But, even if there were, how is it fair to try to shift the financial burden of educating our children to others?

 

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is Wednesday, May 22, 2013. 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. Both meetings are open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. You can find the agenda for each of the meetings here. In addition, for those who are interested, click here and here for information regarding issues that will be discussed at the Committee of the Whole Meeting and the Board Meeting.

Special Meeting of Minooka 201 School Board

The Minooka CCSD 201 school board will be holding a special meeting on Thursday, May 2, 2013.  The purpose of the meeting is mainly to canvass the results of the recent election, seat the new board members and reorganize the board.  The full meeting agenda, as well as additional information, is available here.  The meeting will be held at 6:00 p.m. in the board room (the old library) at the Minooka Primary Center located at 305 Church Street in Minooka.  As always, members of the public are welcome to attend.

Does Your Superintendent and School Board Want to Increase Your Sales Tax?

A little known provision of Illinois law, called the School Facility Occupation Tax (see here for the text of the law), allows the school boards representing more than 50% of the student enrollment in a county to place a question on the ballot at the next election to raise the sales tax in the county up to 1%.  The proceeds from such sales tax must be used for school facilities and are allocated to the schools based on student enrollment.

In the recent election on April 9th, voters approved the sales tax increase in 6 of 17 counties and rejected the sales tax increase in 11 of 17 counties.  Across the state, the School Facility Occupation Tax has been approved in 17 of the 102 counties.

Grundy County voters may be asked to vote on the School Facility Occupation Tax in the next election.  Grundy County superintendents and school boards are already looking into the possibility of gaining additional school revenues through such a sales tax increase.  A number of school boards have been privy to presentations by Stifel, Nicolaus, an investment banking firm that specializes in bond financing, regarding the increased revenues available from a sales tax increase, the procedure for getting such a question on the ballot, and the keys to a successful vote.*  See here for the presentation to the Finance Committee of Minooka CCSD 201 (Stifel's presentation begins on page 12 of 47).

A joint school board meeting of Grundy County school boards has been scheduled to discuss the School Facility Occupation Tax.  The joint school board meeting will take place May 8th at 7 p.m. at the Coal City Early Childhood Center, 755 South Carbon Hill Road, Coal City, Illinois (for the meeting notice and the agenda of the meeting, see here).  The public, of course, is welcome to attend and comment.

For recent coverage regarding the sales tax increase proposal in Grundy County, see here and here.


*Stifel's angle, of course, is to place itself to receive increased advisory fees from such school districts when they issue more bonds in anticipation of the revenue represented by the increased sales tax.

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is Wednesday, April 24, 2013. 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. Both meetings are open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. You can find the agenda for each of the meetings here. In addition, for those who are interested, click here and here for information regarding issues that will be discussed at the Committee of the Whole Meeting and the Board Meeting.

Common Core Standards: The Debate

As you may or may not be aware, Minooka CCSD 201 (along with every other public elementary or secondary school in Illinois and forty-four other states) will be changing its curriculum to align with something called the "Common Core standards."  You can read about the Common Core State Standards Initiative at their website.

 Along with the Common Core standards, there will be a new standardized test to replace the ISAT.  The new test is called the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test.  You can read about the PARCC test at their website.

Well, not everyone seems to be excited about the new standards or the new test.  You can read about opposition to the Common Core standards and the PARCC test at the following websites:  Stop Common Core Illinois, Hoosiers Against Common Core, Ohioans Against Common Core, and Empowered Georgia Action (and many more).

Regardless of what you think about the Common Core standards and the PARCC test, you can be sure that the Common Core standards and the PARCC test mark the end of local control over curriculum.

Unofficial Election Results for Additional Minooka Races

Based on the returns from Grundy, Kendall and Will counties, the following are the unofficial results of the April 9th election for the following additional Minooka races (for the unofficial results of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board election see my previous post):

Minooka Village President:

Jacqueline C. McKinney 192
Patrick J. Brennan (incumbent) 813*

Minooka Village Trustee:

Yolanda L Wilhelm 467
Ray Mason (incumbent) 647*
Rudy Martin (incumbent) 609*
Terry L. Houchens (incumbent) 637*

Minooka Community High School District 111:

Mike Brozovich 2109*
Patti J. Ruettiger (incumbent) 2164*
Sherry Schmidt 1544
Charles Hiscock 1432
Douglas Kaufman (incumbent) 1226
Chris Kobe (incumbent) 1713*
Wendi Arlis 1198
Michelle Mullen 1576*

* Indicates winners in each race.

Unofficial Election Results for Minooka CCSD 201 Board Seats

Based on the returns from Grundy, Kendall and Will counties, the following are the unofficial results of the April 9th election for the Minooka CCSD 201 school board:

John S. Clucas 1091
Victoria Allen 1437*
Donald A. McKinney 1151*
Douglas P. Martin (incumbent) 1366*
James Satorius (incumbent) 1323*

* Indicates four highest vote totals.

As a personal note, I would like to thank everyone who voted for me (and everyone else who voted for that matter).

Our Very Own Fiscal Cliff

I hope everyone in Minooka CCSD 201 is prepared for our very own "fiscal cliff."  Yes, the school board and the superintendent have set up a situation in which the district is purposely spending more than its revenue.  And when the district runs out, they are going to go to the taxpayers for more money.  The school board and the superintendent are going to tell the taxpayers that unless the taxpayers give the district more money, educational programs and/or athletic programs will be hurt and it will be the taxpayers' fault if the district goes over the cliff.

In the meantime, the school board and the superintendent are going to act like they are doing something about the current operating deficit (which is in excess of $2 million per year).  The latest deficit reduction plan, passed at last month's board meeting (see here), consists mainly of "smoke and mirrors."  If you read to the end of the deficit reduction plan, you will see a projected savings of $768,000.  Two-thirds of that number (the $500,000 "Health Insurance Fund" surplus), however, consists of savings that have already been realized and are already accounted for in the calculation of the current deficit. 

You see, the "Health Insurance Fund" is part of the Education Fund.  And even though there might be a surplus in the "Health Insurance Fund" (which is not a fund recognized by the state for school budgetary purposes), there is a deficit in the Education Fund as a whole.  It is as if you decided not to spend the $100 in your left pocket (which you counted as a saving, which of course it was at the time) and later transferred that $100 to your right pocket (counting it again as a saving, which of course it is not).  You see, it is not just politicians in Washington D.C. and Springfield that engage in "smoke and mirror" games.  Local entities are just as adept at these type of shenanigans.  So, the real number is closer to $268,000 (though even that contains more than a little wishful thinking).

As you can see, the latest deficit reduction plan at best represents a mere 10% of the current deficit.  Within two or three years, the balance in the Education Fund will be depleted and it will start going "into the red."  Rather than trying to significantly reduce or eliminate the deficit, the school board and superintendent are choosing to run the district right up to the cliff.  Then when we are at the cliff, they will try to convince the taxpayers that the taxpayers will be responsible for going over the cliff unless the taxpayers give the district more money by passing a referendum to increase the tax rate.

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is Wednesday, March 20, 2013. 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. Both meetings are open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. You can find the agenda for each of the meetings here. In addition, for those who are interested, click here and here for information regarding issues that will be discussed at the Committee of the Whole Meeting and the Board Meeting.

Our Children's Future

A recent article in the New York Times about the plight of Detroit (click here) got me to thinking.  I sure hope that our children take better care of their children's future than we have taken of our children's future.  You might ask, "what does the plight of Detroit have to do with my children's future?"  Well, the quote from John Boyle at the end of the article sums it up nicely:  “Detroit is a microcosm of what’s going on in America, except America can still print money and borrow."  Detroit is indeed a microcosm of what is going on in America.  From coast to coast and from local government on up, we have made promises that were unsustainable.  We should have known that they were unsustainable when they were made.  After all, a little basic mathematics, including an understanding of exponential functions, is all that is necessary to know that continuous growth in public sector wages, pensions and taxes cannot be sustained.  That was then, and this is now.  Now it is time to pay the piper.

We have created a society which our children cannot afford.  And, what is worse, we continue to make the same mistakes at every level of government.  

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is Wednesday, February 27, 2013. 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. Both meetings are open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. You can find the agenda for each of the meetings here. In addition, for those who are interested, click here and here for information regarding issues that will be discussed at the Committee of the Whole Meeting and the Board Meeting.

Is This The Future Of Illinois?

This blog is about Minooka CCSD 201, but sometimes I post about happenings in other places in order to illustrate a point.  (Also, because the school district is affected by happenings on the state and federal level).  This is one of those times.  It seems that Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is sinking, not only financially but literally (see here).  You see, they spent money unwisely and took on too much debt.  As a result, the city is on the verge of bankruptcy and is having difficulty getting a loan.  Over the years, they neglected the maintenance of basic infrastructure like sewer and water pipes.  Now, sink holes are opening up all around the city due to the sandy soil and the leaking pipes.  The city not only neglected this maintenance but now is having trouble even making its payroll.  The State of Illinois, meanwhile, had its credit rating recently down graded (again) by one of the major rating agencies (see here), leaving Illinois with the worst credit rating of any state in the nation.  As a result, Illinois recently shelved plans to issue $500 million in bonds for school and transportation projects (see here).  Now, Illinois may eventually issue these bonds, but the state (and, therefore, ultimately the taxpayers) will end up paying more in interest on the bonds due to the state's poor credit rating.  This is a classic debt-spiral, which I have written about previously (see here and here).  Harrisburg is merely farther along down the spiral than Illinois.

So, what causes a debt-spiral and how does a state, city, school district (or nation, for that matter) avoid one (or, if it is already in one, how does it get out)?  If you boil it down to its root cause, a debt-spiral is caused when an entity (state, city, school district, etc.) refuses to live within its means.  Public sector entities are supported by taxes on the private sector (even money printing by a central bank like the Federal Reserve is ultimately a tax).  However, there is only a certain level of taxation that the taxpayers (the private sector) are willing or able to support.  It is sometimes difficult to determine what that level of taxation is for any given public sector entity since it depends on a multitude of factors.  As is all too typical, once a public sector entity starts to bump up against that level of taxation and has trouble raising current revenue it enters the debt markets and floats bonds in increasing amounts to obtain current funds in exchange for future taxation.  (Long term debt financing for necessary and prudent capital projects is one thing, but debt financing for current consumption is a clue that you have entered debt-spiral territory.)  The interest payments on these bonds, of course, just make the current problems worse and the public entity finds itself going to the debt markets with increasing frequency just to pay for current services.  (This is very much like a family that lives beyond its means and starts to use mortgage debt or a home equity loan to pay for day to day expenses.)

So, how does a public sector entity avoid a debt-spiral?  The same way that an individual or a family avoids a debt-spiral: it lives within its means.  For a public sector entity, that means that it must keep its expenses below (to be safe, well below) that level of taxation that the relevant taxpayers are willing or able to support.  This is the crux of the matter since most people spending public money do not spend such money as if they were spending their own money.  They tend to spend it much more freely.  Once a public sector entity finds itself in a debt-spiral, how does it get out?  There are really only two ways out: some form of debt restructuring (such as bankruptcy) or a bailout from a public sector entity higher up the food chain (also known as "kicking the problem upstairs").  In order to avoid going back into the debt-spiral again, the public sector entity must live within its means.

Calvin Coolidge (one of the most underrated Presidents of the United States) once stated the following:  "I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people.  The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government.  Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager.  Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant."

Next Minooka 201 School Board Meeting

The next meeting of the Minooka CCSD 201 school board is Wednesday, January 23, 2013. 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. Both meetings are open to the public, and everyone is encouraged to attend. You can find the agenda for each of the meetings here. In addition, for those who are interested, click here and here for information regarding issues that will be discussed at the Committee of the Whole Meeting and the Board Meeting.

Five Candidates Run for Four Minooka 201 School Board Seats

Five people have submitted petitions to run for the four Minooka CCSD 201 school board seats that will be filled in the next Consolidated Election on April 9, 2013. The five people are Jim Satorius (incumbent), Doug Martin (incumbent), Don McKinney, Vicki Allen, and John Clucas.