D135 Candidates on How Best to Fund the District

The following question was asked of all candidates running for a seat on the Orland School District 135 Board of Education.

Answers are listed in the order they were received.

Revenue from the state continues to dry up, while residents are also dealing with rising costs. Please rank the following in the order you feel the district should be focused on for meeting the district’s costs in light of these issues. 1) Staff Cuts 2) Contract Renegotiations 3) Operating Expense Cuts 4) Tax Increases 5) Other Funding Sources. Please also explain your reasoning.

Michael Carroll

1 – Other Funding Sources: We should continue to explore grants as a possible source. Negotiating an intergovernmental agreement with the Village of Orland Park, which this current Board had terminated, could raise some funds for the District, as well as provide a partnership in maintaining parks at the schools.

2 – Expense Cuts: Exploring expense cuts should be an annual project. No stone should be left unturned to find better deals or ways to share expenses and programs whenever possible. Find what doesn’t work and remove or replace it.

3 – Staff cuts: I am not proposing firing existing employees, but employees retire, so the natural attrition process could reduce staff slightly. In light of reductions in enrollment for several years now, so long as essential services would survive, this attrition process could save the District money.

4 – Contract renegotiations: I don’t support renegotiating an existing contract, but for any contract negotiated at or near the time of the expiration of an old contract, we should be having an open dialogue about the realities of District finance at that time. And then stick with the contract. If we don’t violate it, we won’t have to litigate at great expense.

5 – Tax increases: I think this is the last option in these difficult times. With the reserves the District has, I don’t see the need to tax our residents further right now. Hopefully, as property values improve with the economy, the overall health of the District and State will improve and additional tax dollars will naturally flow into our coffers.

Tom Cunningham

2,1,3,5,4

Laura Berry

I would start with operating expenses specifically athletic fields. We had a great cost sharing agreement with the village that is no longer the case under the current school board. How can the district say it doesn’t cost anything extra to maintain them? Does this make any sense? When we can share these expenses as well as share the resources, this is the priority. The wasteful use of money that has occurred with lawsuits is an easy way to save funds as well as duplication of services. Contracts are important to consider, as is staffing. The district has for the most part been careful with the teaching and support staff levels. The excessive movement and changes to administration are costly (as mentioned before). Taxing should be the last option. As for other sources the district is too well funded to qualify for many significant grants at this time. Last year my office looked at about 100 different grant opportunities, and we did not qualify for most of them.

Michael Maratea

1) Operating Expense Cuts 2) Other Funding Sources 3) Staff Cuts 4) Tax Increases 5) Contract Renegotiations.  It is difficult to rank order in a district with a $50 million dollar surplus and approved tax levy.  If we were ever in that position, you would first trim your operating expenses, which can be reflected in the budget. Next would be other funding sources, which can be difficult through grants since we have a large surplus. Private donations are rare, and we do not want to become a financial institution lending money to poor districts. Staff cuts are usually absorbed by retiring employees, but usually are the first area that districts use since staff salaries make up the largest part of the budget. In this current economical environment, no one likes to see someone lose his/her job. Tax increases can be adjusted with the tax levy, but once again should not be maximal in a district with a large surplus. Lastly, contract renegotiations should be the final resort since a contract is a legally binding document. It can only be opened with the consent of both parties.  Violation will lead to grievance and possible lawsuits, which would create legal fees and less money for the district.

Sandra Kulak

1. Other: Cut the excessive spending on all the recent administrative changes.  Tighten up the contract language as I explained in question #12. We need cost effective, innovative ways to instruct our children in a fiscally responsible manner.

2.  Operating expenses: We can cut our operating expenses by reinstating the intergovernmental agreement with the Village of Orland Park, which was severed several years ago.  By sharing the resources that the schools have with the Village we will be able to share the expenses.

3.  Contract Negotiations:  We would save massive legal costs spent on the School District attorney if contracts are settled as soon as possible. Also by limiting the Board's attorney's use during the process unless absolutely necessary. 

4. Staff cuts impact the quality of the services to the children of Orland Park.  At the last school board meeting it was announced that the district could expect 59 less students resulting in a reported loss of 5 teaching positions.  That, typically, would warrant a loss of 2 or 3, depending upon the distribution across grade levels.

5.  Increases in the property tax levy are not necessary at this point in time.  It should be the absolute final option in these most difficult economic times.

Mary Bragg

3) Operating Expense Cuts – should be one of the first areas to focus on for reducing costs so that we will not directly impact the classroom.

5) Other funding sources – should be actively pursued to help alleviate the rising costs in the district, corporate partnerships need to be carefully addressed.

2) Contract Renegotiations will need to be considered with the continuation of the current funding issues at both the state and federal levels.

4) Tax increases – to maintain a quality education are necessary until both the state and federal government seriously address school funding and fix it across the country.

1) Staff cuts in the classroom would be the last way to address the rising costs, impacting the classroom impacts the quality of the educational experience and losses in test scores results, which could result in losses in funding.

Ann Gentile

Contract Renegotiations, Staff Cuts, Operating Expense Cuts, Other Funding Sources and Tax Increases. The District should focus like a laser on Other Funding Sources.  We have instituted a Contractual Relationship with the Teachers where their compensation is directly tied to the District’s Revenues.  This structure should be expanded to all our compensation structures that would give the District sustainability.  Controlling the most significant portion of our budget we a key step in the process.  Our District is receiving less than 10% of our budget from non-property taxes based revenues.  Other districts are as high as 80% or above in non-property tax funding.  When are our representatives going to fight for our kids’ schools?  These funding levels are dictated by the State and Federal Government.  Who represents Orland Park? 

Nathan Jaisingh

The first option that should be looked at is other funding sources, i.e. grants, private donors, etc. This option allows for all current contracts, staffing ratios, and tax rates to remain the same if enough revenue can be captured by this technique. If not the second option should be operating expense cuts. Running a more efficient system, especially if it will save jobs and prevent tax cuts is the next best option. Third, would be contract renegotiations. The goal here would be to avoid any staffing cuts, keeping in mind the other steps previously taken. Next would be staff cuts. The last option would a tax increase and further burdening the taxpayer beyond their current point.

Learn about other races in the spring 2013 election.

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