Another District 300 Tax Increase

By Julie Fox

Dear Editor, 

Here we go again.  It’s another election, so of course there’s another District 300 referendum on the ballot.  It is absolutely incredible how often the D300 board comes back to the voters with requested tax increases.  This one is particularly large, and therefore will be particularly damaging to those on fixed incomes and tight budgets.  At a time when families are already suffering due to hard economic times, it is even more incredible that, not only does the board want a tax increase, but such a large one at that.

We’ve heard the same laments over and over again about failed referenda and the effect they will have on property values.  Four tax referenda were defeated between 1997 and 1998, and property values in the district continued to soar.  The continual increase in property values continues to provide D300 with more revenue, but it’s still not enough.  The other lament we commonly hear is that increased class sizes are going to result in a poorer education for the children.  When I attended school in the 1960s and 1970s, the class sizes were considerably larger, yet the education was better.   These arguments were worn out and proven wrong long ago.    

Individuals and businesses in Illinois have had to tighten their belts fiscally in the last year.  There is no reason why the D300 school board can’t do the same.  Layoffs and salary cuts are the harsh realities of a bad economy.  Many of us in the private sector have dealt with these already, but our school district officials seem to think that the same realities should not apply to them.  We should be taking a serious look at cutting back the number of administrators in the district, and analyzing the cost benefit of running our own bus service.  My review of D300’s bus service in 1998 revealed a considerable amount of unaccountable expenses, which I brought up at a debate, and for which no one has ever given an explanation.   

Not only is there a double standard in terms of how to deal with a struggling economy, but there are also perks for school teachers and other workers in the district that are virtually unheard of in the private sector, such as pensions.  Yet they still want more.  If the administrators and school teachers are really doing this “for the children,” as they say, then they would be willing to make the same sacrifices those of us in the private sector have made.  

 02-20-03

Julie Fox is the Fox Valley Libertarian Party Chair, Trustee at the Dundee Township Library District Board, and Former Treasurer of the Libertarian Party of Illinois .