From today's News-Gazette:
Greg Novak, a member of the Champaign school board and Savoy resident, said the school district would be going on the record endorsing a countywide sales tax to be put on the November ballot.
A state sales tax law, which took effect last year and patterned after one in Iowa, allows an increase – if voters approve – of a quarter-cent, half-cent or full cent.
"This is a first step to see if this something we can pursue," Novak said.
The sales tax would be solely used for infrastructure and existing debt.
Eighty percent of the revenue generated would be distributed to school districts based on their enrollment. The remaining 20 percent would get banked to serve as a buffer, according to Novak.
Novak said that if the tax were increased by one cent, the estimates show Tolono would receive $1.1 million; Urbana, $3.1 million; Mahomet, $2 million; and Champaign would receive $6.8 million.
The school board would then issue bonds and debt for capital services. With the bonds, he said an estimated $50 million to $60 million could be generated. He said a portion of this money could be used for a new elementary school.
"Savoy has been mentioned (as a site)," he said. "Savoy is one of the areas the board is obligated to look at."
This sales-tax-for-education referenda is starting to sound more and more like a certainty instead of a possibility.
This sales-tax-for-education referenda is starting to sound more and more like a certainty instead of a possibility.
Oh yeah. I hate seeing Novak toss around figures based on a 1% rate. Who gets to decide what rate goes to the voters?
So, if this passes, the school district will use it to issue bonds to build the schools that they want, or will this be used to retrofit existing schools?
Savoy doesn't want to subsidize my MTD service, but they want me to subsidize their new elementary school?
D-Man, I have to ask. Are you stupid, or just trying to stir the pot? The school district boundaries have absolutely nothing to do with municipal boundaries. It has no bearing on funding. No bearing on enrollment.
In fact, about the only place where they have any bearing is in TIF districts. And in that case, the residents of Savoy have much to complain about. You see, City of Champaign officials have liberally approved TIF districts for their city which have resulted in less money to the schools of the residents of Savoy.
D-Man, I have to ask. Are you stupid, or just trying to stir the pot?
Can't I be both?
well, the just qualifier eliminates the "both" possibility. colloquially you could read that as "only trying to stir the pot".
Anyway, if you are merely a pot stirrer, a pox on you, but it's certainly better than ignorance.
I'm in Urbana. I'm ticked about having to subsidize Champaign's junior college.
D-Man is a blog Jedi... "Trolling... flame wars... a blog Jedi craves not these things." - YodaFan236
--
Glock21 Op/Ed
"It's so enticing to voters. Most counties will take this up. I've been dreaming about something like this for many, many years," Trustee Joan Dykstra said.
If we have lost Joan, it is over.
The connection between the MTD and the new school is Savoy wants the benefits of the metropolitan area without the burdens. They did have a deal to let the MTD serve at least parts of Savoy, which Dykstra tried to kill with an unreasonable amendment that the MTD rebate part of the taxes it collects to pay for the upkeep of streets in Savoy. Why should Savoy residents get a rebate but not Champaign residents? Champaign residents are already subsidizing Savoy library users by letting them use the Champaign library for free, with their Tolono library cards. But, I'm willing to make a deal. Let the MTD in; pay your taxes like everyone else does, and get your school.
I don't have anything against paying for things across municipal boundaries (and the jr. college is for everyone in the county, after all), but I think that they should at least have the courtesy to do the same. Additionally, I have no kids, but don't have a problem with paying for Unit 4 (provided everyone else does too). I rarely ride MTD, but don't have a problem with paying for it (provided everyone else does too). Once a group of people say that they don't want to pay for one of these things, it is only natural for those that do to question whether they want to pay for something that serves the first group. Or it's just stupid pot stirring. Whatever.
The school district boundaries have absolutely nothing to do with municipal boundaries.
Um, neither do the MTD boundaries. Post consent decree, how many non-Savoy students would be at this new school?
I rarely ride MTD, but don't have a problem with paying for it (provided everyone else does too). Once a group of people say that they don't want to pay for one of these things, it is only natural for those that do to question whether they want to pay for something that serves the first group.
There you go - how about questioning whether you want to pay for the MTD? How about pressure to push taxes toward the lowest village rate, instead of pressure toward everyone paying the highest tax rates.
One big complaint about the MTD in Savoy is that the busses will tear up the streets, that's the rebate thing. So, with the price of deisel fuel, I propose that the MTD be allowed to tax Savoy, but MTD won't run busses in Savoy. Now there's a deal we can all live with.
I'd like, just once, for some politician somewhere to stand up and say: We know times are tough, so we're just going to live within our budget this year, the way all of our individual citizens do, and not ask for more taxes. That politician would get my vote and undying support. Instead, we have a group of politicians who are trying to find ways to make everyone who buys something in the county pay for the schools, when Unit 4, at least, ought be asking themselves how they got to this point, and why students and families are fleeing Unit 4 for other schools. Until the Board is honestly willing to address those issues, no amount of money is going to fix this problem.
Greg Novak here
I should not rise to the bait, but several of the comments on this thread have somewhat grated on my nerve - so lets start:
First of all, taxpayers in Savoy pay the same rate for Unit Four be they live in Savoy or Champaign - tax rate is the same - so your $200,000 house - or $100,000 condo - or $50,000 house pays the same amount regardless of location to Unit Four. I have rejoined the work force in part to help pay my taxes - so I have joked that I am still working for Unit Four. So residents in Savoy are not getting any tax break from Unit Four
Second of all, the voters and the country board get to have the final say on the sales tax mount - the 1 cent rate makes the most sense when looking at the county. All of the money raised will not go to Savoy - in fact over 60% will go to school districts other than Unit Four, IF it passes - then I would want to see it used for fixing up our schools - yes building a Savoy School and tax relief/.
Third of all there are 311 elementary students currently living in the borders of Savoy who attend Unit Four - this number does not count the students who attend private school. Under our Schools of Choice program, few - less than 20 of these students get the privilege of having a Proximity A school - where their chances of attending their school of choice are much higher. Instead the vast majority of students are Proximity B - so they get sent across the district to fill in what spaces are open. Should these students from Savoy not have the same rights as those who live in Champaign - some of who get to pick their proximity A status from as many as six different schools?? Again they don't get a tax break because they are proximity B
Last point - as a member of the School Board I have been in office now for eleven months - during which time I and other members of the School Board have attempted to do our duty.We have made a effort to live within our budget and have questioned some decisions of the administration. We have also started the "Vision" process with the cooperation of various members of the community - which in turn has lead to the formation of working groups designed to give community input into the future of the district. Those groups have raised the issues of "flight from the community" and have asked the hard questions as to why this has happened. We do not have the solutions to these problems - but by asking the questions openly we have started the problem of addressing them.
However one MAJOR problem is the fact that School Boards for the last thirty plus years have ignored capital issues - and provided no funding - no land bank - nothing. I am responsible for a district which needs to fix up its infrastructure - and has no means with with which to do it. I can go to the public for a property tax increase - or I can find alternate means of funding that address multiple issues like tax relief. Again I stress the voters of Champaign County have the final say on what happens
My .02
Greg Novak
It is a good thing that D-Man and Ezra showed up to provide us proof of what happens when uninformed people push their opinions onto others. I actually needed a good laugh. Thank you.
And for Ezra, I can go to the Champaign Public Library on my Tolono card... but why would I want to? I can get any book from any participating library delivered right to the Tolono library for me. The book that I am reading now is from the Tuscola library... the one before that was from the Clifton library. These are books that are on the NYT best sellers list.
I'm also in favor of Savoy pulling out of Unit 4 and joining Tolono Unit 7. From Savoy, I can make it to the High School building outside of Tolono a lot quicker than it takes me to get to Central. Plus, the high school building in Tolono isn't 80 years old.
But, having these uninformed folks act like Savoy property owners pay a different tax rate into Unit 4 is a lot more fun.
I would have to agree with Anf, also to the point that I think Savoys children would be much better served in Tolono.
With all due respect, Mr. Novak, the school board's attitutde and lack of action is and has been the problem. I understand that this is a hard task, but frankly, just asking the adminsitration hard questions isn't enough. Did you actually cut any of the budget or discretionary items that they asked for? Did you ask the top administartors for a salary freeze or some concessions? Has the School Board actually done anything to address the community's distrust of Arthur Culver? You act like throwing more money at the problem will solve it--there are other problems that still need addressing. What good are new buildings if they are administered by the same old group that got us here in the first place?What good are new buildings if you still have discipline problems that can't be addressed because of the consent decree? What good are new buildings if you can't get people who have already fled the system back into the system?
If you think I'm unhappy, then you'd be right--as are many other citizens of this community. I don't have children, but I recognize the need to educate people.What I don't recognize is the need or obligation to continue throwing money at the same problems, to be administered by the same people, with, presumably, the same lack of results.
Asking the questions isn't enough--the public wants to see some action.
Initially, this new sales tax was promoted as providing some relief or a reduction in property taxes. It seems like that idea has already disappeared. No reduction in property taxes.....just more taxes for the schools. Of course, we can always hope that if they get the new sales tax, the property tax rate will not increase as much as it would otherwise, but would anyone be willing to take that bet?
Second of all, the voters and the country board get to have the final say on the sales tax mount - the 1 cent rate makes the most sense when looking at the county.
I would guess the county board gets to put a number on the ballot, and the voters get to say 'yes' or 'no' - true?
If the board puts 1 cent on the ballot, the only way for the voters to choose a lower amount would be to reject the proposal, and hope the board will put it back on at a lower rate later - right?
Champaign Dweller, I have also tried hard to cut this new board some slack,,,after all they inherited a real mess, But,I just cannot get over that last contract extention that was given to Arthur Culver,albiet by a previous board. It was a clear slap in the face to Unit 4 families,,,many of whom expressed their dismay,,the last failed referendum should have been the icing on the cake, but it was not. One thing of note,,not sure what it means, if anything,but I go down every morning to the Neil St. postoffice to get our companies PO box mail....I cut thru to go down Columbia, strangely almost every morning I see CPD parked on the side streets leading to Central....they are not close to the school , but almost like a grid pattern around the school. May mean nothing of course.
Wimpy little Jordy is cutting comments again.
But this board fails to realize the flaws, whether current or 30 years old.
The only real solution is for the state to take over this mess. It's clear it can no longer be fixed by unqualified local school board members.
It is a good thing that D-Man and Ezra showed up to provide us proof of what happens when uninformed people push their opinions onto others. I actually needed a good laugh. Thank you.
Um, your welcome?
Seriously though, I never claimed that the Savoyards pay a different Unit 4 rate, just that they receive (limited) MTD service and wanted to pay nothing. I think that I have made my point sufficiently - I'm P.O.'ed at Savoy for trying to weasel out of what I think is their civic duty. I realize that the issues are not linked in any way, except that the same people that didn't want to pay one tax want to benefit from another. (And of course, the fact that if they had full MTD service, they would be able to bus their kids to schools all over CU.) What did they expect when they wanted to opt out of paying a tax that everyone else is? And as for the issue itself, all snarkiness aside, Greg Novak makes a good point. Savoy is growing and will need an elementary school soon regardless of how I feel, and as a member of the CU community, it's probably in my best interest to fork over some money to get it done. Still, it would be nice to see them sweat a little first, that's all I'm saying. That's my uninformed opinion - consider it pushed upon you.
the state that has over $20 million in late fee payments this year - yeah, put them in charge
"Wimpy little Jordy is cutting comments again."
Only when you start posting the same thing over and over again, or when you start insulting people.
You've made your point about the Unit 4 Board. Nobody on here has yet agreed with you, so you've started tossing around insults.
Any further comments to that effect will be unpublished. If you don't like it, start your own blog.
Thanks for the link, W.J., but the first comment you cut had no insults per se. It did say the current board and previous boards have not performed well. That is an opinion, not an insult.
It's really not even directed at the boards. The idea that local people can be elected to run a school effectively is poor on its face. Many of them have no expertise relating directly to education, money management or planning for the future. We see all of these flaws developing within Unit 4. In addition, Unit 4 allows small, clueless factions to use the district as the prize in some sort of ideological tug-of-war.
The fact that no one, either on the board or in the community itself, has stepped up to put a stop to this nonsense is yet more proof that the local citizenry is out of its league when it comes to running a school district.
"Thanks for the link, W.J., but the first comment you cut had no insults per se."
It is mindlessly repetitive. You copy-n-paste the same comment in nearly every thread in which education is mentioned. It never generates any discussion or agreement, and so you follow it by getting nastier and nastier.
I understand that you think Unit 4 should not be locally governed due to extreme stupidity/incompetence/buffoonery on the part of all of the District's citizens. I've not found anyone else in the District who agrees with you.
As I said above, repetitive and/or insulting comments will be deleted. They add nothign to the discussion, and when they're as baseless as your comments have been, they're equivalent to trolling.
If you don't like it, start your own blog. I'm tired of it on here, especially coming from someone who won't even register.
311 elementary kids is about 2 strands (maybe a little more) of school children.
With all due respect to Mr. Novak, I, for one, am sick and tired of hearing Savoy people say they deserve a school. The last school in Savoy closed at least 30 or 40 years ago and is currently being used for Head Start (I don't think Unit 4 even owns that building anymore). How many people currently living in Savoy were there 20 or 30 years ago? I would be willing to bet it is less than 20%, and possibly even lower than that. When they bought their houses or rented their apartments or homes, they knew going in there was no school within village boundaries, and honestly, if we built one now it would be 90+% white, which would put it out of compliance with the consent decree, so even if this mythological building existed a fair number of Savoy kids would have to be bussed elsewhere anyway. If the district is forced to continue the consent decree and goes to using free and reduced lunch as the economic criteria, I would be willing to bet this mythological "Savoy school" would still fail to meet that criteria, and if for some reason Savoy residents started to participate in the free and reduced lunch program at a rate that enabled all their kids to stay in Savoy, I would howl for the feds, the Illinois Attorney General, and our State's Attorney to investigate every free and reduced lunch application, with home visits and tax forms subpeonaed, to ensure that folks truly were needy and not just lying about their income to influence where their kid's classroom was located.
For those who would like to see Savoy switch from Unit 4 to Unit 7--hey, I'll vote for that, and I'm a Unit 4 parent who doesn't live in Savoy. The joke, however, will be on you, as Unit 7's tax rates are higher, and they're just as interested in the sales tax referendum as Unit 4 is. Be careful what you wish for...you just might be writing the checks to pay for it!!!!
D-Man: I won't dispute Savoy has been growing, but check its borders. It's almost maxxed out on empty land that can be built on.
And as for the comment about "flight from the community": I've been in some of these small groups where this comment has been made, but there's been no discussion with current or former private school parents like myself about why we aren't or weren't in Unit 4 schools. When Unit 4 gets serious about discipline, when they drop this assinine consent decree and my kid can go to the school within 10 blocks of my home, when I as a parent get 1/2 day kindergarten for my kid, when my kid is learning to read using phonics and not whole language, when my kid is learning from a real math curriculum like Saxon math and not this Everyday Math garbage (better described as "Everyday Crap")--can we set up some schools with these choices and possibly bring some parents back that way? If not, why not? Religion was actually a very small piece of why my kid was in parochial school. How about--we do a "Great Schools Together" forum where we actually talk to the private school parents instead of speculating about their motives? Seems logical to me, but I probably am being too left-brained today...
"It's so enticing to voters. Most counties will take this up. I've been dreaming about something like this for many, many years," Trustee Joan Dykstra said.
If we have lost Joan, it is over.
Sorry for my late response. Incredibly busy...
Anyway, this quote was in reference to having a school that the park district could use after hours, the Tolono Library, sports events and other activities that allowed the citizens of Unit 4 to access the building after school hours. I know it made it sound a bit like I was dreaming of a new tax!
Having said that, the new Savoy sales tax went to the voters this spring and it passed by 73% (with almost no promotion). I was frankly amazed and it showed me how much the sales tax is preferred over property taxes to pay for infrastructure.
A few more comments...I didn't respond to the insipid Savoy/MTD bait because the same folks love to connect imaginary dots and it's pointless to argue. Been there, done that. You know, I'm not thrilled with a whole lot of Champaign City Council decisions but I don't irrationally correlate that to any Unit 4 schools discussions.
But for those who continue to think of Savoy as the ugly stepchild of Unit 4, I will again remind readers that we pay the exact same tax rate as everyone else and I would daresay without being a large drain on resources of Unit 4.
As an experiment, it might help to take away the city boundary aspect and only imagine the Unit 4 boundaries for purposes of taxing districts. If you then put markers on elementary school locations throughout the district, you would see just how unfair not having any school in this area of the district is, especially when you look at population numbers. In fact, it would be considered highly discriminatory if it were anywhere else.
I know it made it sound a bit like I was dreaming of a new tax!
Yeah, it did - hence my gloom.
People always seem to prefer sales tax to property tax because they believe that their taxing body (city, school district, ...) can get tax dollars from visitors. They will thus not have to pay the full share. I have a real problem, philosophically, applying this to schools.
I didn't respond to the insipid Savoy/MTD bait because the same folks love to connect imaginary dots...
Speaking as an insipid baiter, I raised the MTD issue to show that there were still some raw feelings - you know, poke 'em with a stick, but end up paying anyway - but some of the statements by the Savoyards have really rubbed me the wrong way: "Savoy is one of the areas the board is obligated to look at" and "it would be considered highly discriminatory if it were anywhere else." Obligated? Discriminatory? That's all a bit much, and I find it hard to muster any sense of outrage about pre hoc discrimation against well-to-do people living in new developments. I guess that I'm just a big hater trying to weasel out of my "obligation" to Savoy faster than, oh, I don't know, let's say someone from Savoy running from their obligation to pay for MTD service. Wanting to pick and choose which taxes you pay is cost free right up until the moment that you want other people to pay for something you want. *That* is the connection between the "imaginary dots" - I'm not going to use your school anymore than you are going to use my bus service, nor do I want to pay for it anymore than you want to pay for MTD. If the people of Savoy don't like having that argument applied to the school, they shouldn't have made it first about the busses.
If the tax is tied to Savoy I'm voting against it. If the tax is tied to fixing the schools we already have in Champaign I'm voting for it. There are 75,254 people in Champaign, and 5,650 people in Savoy. Champaign schools need fixing. Savoy is a tiny village and they can come to Champaign, not the other way around.
The last two entries only prove the irrationality of the posters.
1.Savoy did agree to the MTD agreement.
2. It is the Unit 4 schools! It doesn't matter in what town someone lives. The taxing body encompasses an area that includes more than one city, as many other school districts do.
Savoy is a tiny village and they can come to Champaign, not the other way around.
IT ISN'T a "Champaign" school district! Look at the boundaries. They pay the same. Everyone in the district deserves equity.The blatant discrimination is appalling.
To tax fairness.
You are correct that Savoy is part of Unit 4. Not every little neighborhood gets its own school. Savoy is just that, a little neighborhood.
We don't have neighorhood schools any more, they are "schools of choice" which hardly anybody really gets anyway.
I have to get my child across town, so you, too have to get your child across town. Putting a school in Savoy is discrimination against the rest of us making us buy more gasoline to drive even farther, or making the kids spend even longer on a school bus, neither of which is a solution.
When you bought your house you knew just how far away the schools were. They haven't moved, they are still where they were when you bought your house in Savoy.
When you bought your house you knew just how far away the schools were. They haven't moved, they are still where they were when you bought your house in Savoy.
Why do people make this argument about placing a school in Savoy, but argue that Savoy should still be forced to accept unnecessary MTD service in their little neighborhood. People knew there was no MTD service when they moved to Savoy didn't they. Who the heck moves that far out of town if they want to utilize mass transit?
"The last two entries only prove the irrationality of the posters."
You could probably recycle this post a number of times, and it would still be valid.
For example, we have someone saying "Because I have to do this, EVERYONE should have to do this." Of course, this same person says "You knew where the schools were." No logic, no ability to make a rational argument.
There is a key word in this discussion that's missing. COUNTY schools facility tax. I realize that Unit 4 gets most of the press as the largest district in the county, but EVERY district in the county will get revenues from this tax based on their enrollment.
If a Sadorus resident buys a taxabe item in Fisher, the sales tax revenue is applied to EVERY student in the county!
FYI I will be on WCIA tomorrow morning at 710 discussing this issue.
Dave Tomlinson
And if a Gibson City or Monticello resident buys something in Champaign, the tax goes to Champaign county schools, and not their own.
I accidentally put this on a different thread.
When you bought your house you knew just how far away the schools were. They haven't moved, they are still where they were when you bought your house in Savoy.
Then, by that logic, we only have schools in the middle of downtown Champaign no matter how much construction and home building goes on or where the students are. Great vision for keeping students in the public schools.
What about Barkstall? Did we say that to southwest Champaign? No. What about serving students where they live? Savoy was part of the beginning of Unit 4. There originally was a school in Savoy before it was closed. "School district boundaries"... keep repeating that until you can understand the simple concept of separate taxing bodies.
Anon 4:27,
Savoy has schools right now. They are Garden Hills, Dr. Howard, South Side, Barkstall, Kenwood, and more. Every single school age child has the right to go to school, and schools exist for them. No Savoy child is being denied a seat.
It's the parents who decided to live in a place where there is a longer drive for their children to go to school. A school in Savoy is NOT for the benefit of the children, it is for the benefit of short sighted parents who bought houses so far from school buildings. If they wanted to live close to a school they could have, should have, bought near a school.
Just because they bought a house far away from a school doesn't mean the school district should build a school near them. It was their choice where to buy.
You are responsible for your choices, and if you made a bad choice buying a house, live with it, or move, just don't raise MY taxes to cover your buyer's remorse.
So..............when we have THREE schools between Washington-Bradley-Neil-Wright ( assuming that the new school demanded by the consent decree is in that area) that the people who pay way more taxes (savoy) than that area of town ( washignton-bradley-neil- wright) get screwed? and they dont have a school close? thats fair? There was a school in Savoy.... its now where head start is.... Its not the Savoy people fault that school was closed years ago........ they had a school... isnt it time that they get one again? No where else in Unit 4 is one area so underserved... and garden hills ( 7 miles away from the southern border of savoy) isnt "their school".
Again, Savoy is not underserved. EVERY Savoy child may attend school. It's just a matter of location. If I buy a house in far southwest Champaign and my "schools of choice" places my child in Garden Hills, then I have a long drive. If I buy a house at Bradley and Neil and my "schools of choice" gives me Barkstall, I have a long drive.
If I buy a house in Savoy and my "schools of choice" gives me Garden Hills, I have a long drive. If I buy a house in Savoy and my "schools of choice" gives me Barksdall, I don't have a long drive.
Savoy is no different from any where else, and shouldn't be treated any differently. And I'll be darned if I'll vote to raise my taxes to make Savoy any different than the rest of Unit 4.
"EVERY Savoy child may attend school." Wow, big of you. I'm sure Savoy children are eternally grateful. The point is that Savoy wants to have the SAME choices and proximity as others in Unit 4. They don't. Period.
To the illogical person who keeps blathering about "schools of choice" and refusing to read any of the other points:
"Schools of choice" is going to end. Try to keep up. Now you'll have to come up with some other irrational argument.
Of course, mighty Unit 4 has already beaten you to that. The board listened to tiny, clueless factions and allowed a pointless consent decree to dictate its actions.
You'll have to work hard to outdumb the Unit 4 board.
Holy crap, there are kids who don't have equal access to quality schools close to their homes?
That's nuts!
Oh wait, no that's most of the country. Why is the plight of the kids in Savoy more important that that of our kids dying in Chicago? What's different about them?
Barkstall was built in 1998-ish.
Before that, Bottenfield, Carrie Busey, and Robeson were the southern-most schools, and they were built 1953-58-ish.
Don't know when the Savoy school closed; just know it was about 30-40 years ago.
The majority of the growth in Savoy has taken place in the last 10 years (almost the same time that Barkstall got built).
If you lived in Savoy when the old Savoy school closed, you should identify yourself, and you will have a legitimate complaint.
If you moved to Savoy after the Savoy school closed, you knew what you were getting into, and you have no right to complain there is no school in Savoy.
Even in the pre-consent decree days, there was no neighborhood school in Savoy, and kids were bussed to at least Barkstall, and often further north.
We're not asking you to pay more in taxes to get your school, we think you need to grow up and realize that actions (buying a house on the far southern edge of town so all your neighbors will be lily-white) have consequences.
If you're willing to live with the fact that all of your neighbors are not lily-white, you can move to one of the neighborhoods in Champaign that have a school, and experience the joy of being told you cannot attend your neighborhood school because it is out of racial balance.
Deal with it...
Oh wait, no that's most of the country. Why is the plight of the kids in Savoy more important that that of our kids dying in Chicago? What's different about them?
Because we aren't IN Chicago. We're in Chamapign County.
As far as lily-white, the reverse discrimination is amazing. Do you tell people in all the other outlying areas of Unit 4 the same thing? So tell me, is it that minorities aren't welcome in these areas (what about all the minorities in Winfield Village?) or just that building continues where there is empty land? For the tax base and numbers of students needed to fund Unit 4, thank god there is expansion. But if the board thought as you did, "deal with it", then they will get that flight that people talk about. Fortunately, it appears this school board is more progressive and visionary.
Every child in Unit 4, no matter where they live, deserve equity. Drop the city titles and look at the boundaries!
All school districts expand and the school board meets the needs of those expanding regions. Deal with it.
Unit 4 parent said, "Every child in Unit 4, no matter where they live, deserve equity. Drop the city titles and look at the boundaries!"
Correct. Unit 4 has enough spaces to accomodate all the Unit 4 students. So send your Unit 4 child to a Unit 4 school.
When I was growing up I never once heard anyone say, "You don't have to go to school, the school will come to you".
Why is the plight of the kids in Savoy more important that that of our kids dying in Chicago? What's different about them?
The difference is that Unit 4 is going to build schools. Logic dictates that you would put it in a place within your district that has a lot of kids and no school.
Logic also would dictate that you wouldn't have a lawyer telling you to build a school half a mile from an existing school.
But as we've seen, this process has been illogical for some time.
the consent decree is outside the rules of logic - it's a legal document :-)
And if a Gibson City or Monticello resident buys something in Champaign, the tax goes to Champaign county schools, and not their own.
Should we be worried that in this time of decreased spending and potential recession that this additional sales tax will curtail consumer spending (especially from consumers out of the area) therefore further decreasing sales tax revenues for existing programs? Would that not have a detrimental impact on our property taxes, or even be a cause for more sales tax increases. Cook county recently raised their sales tax rate to over 10% and in Champaign the extra 1% would make taxes on a meal out on Saturday night 9.25%. Just some food for thought, coming from someone who does not like the idea of raising sales taxes, even for a (small) break on property taxes.
Logic, huh? Let's review. Savoy is equal to Champaign (and a little bit of Champaign County outside corporate city limits) as far as being in Unit 4 is concerned. Unit 4 is an entity. Unit 4 has space for all of its schoolchilden.
Why should Savoy be treated differently from the rest of Unit 4? Should every area of Unit 4 get its own school building? Why not build a dozen schools so that each and every Unit 4 child can walk to school?
What if Unit 4 wants to build magnet schools? Magnet schools for AP students, or magnet schools for arts, or magnet schools for math and science. Would it be ok to build a magnet school on the north side of Champaign but not build one in Savoy? Would it be ok to build a magnet school in Savoy but not build one on the north side of Champaign? Of course not.
Equity is in the education, not in the location.
Why should Savoy be treated differently from the rest of Unit 4? Should every area of Unit 4 get its own school building? Why not build a dozen schools so that each and every Unit 4 child can walk to school?
With the school of choice rules, there are many that would argue that Savoy is indeed being treated differently right now - they have no school within the Prox A distance limits. What other area of the district can say that?
Should we be worried that in this time of decreased spending and potential recession that this additional sales tax will curtail consumer spending (especially from consumers out of the area) therefore further decreasing sales tax revenues for existing programs?
Yes we should, but not enough of us will.
Greg Novak here
Several comments on recent posts
Savoy has a one strand school until 1977 when it was closed. The growth in the village started in the late 1990's. Schools were built in the past in Unit Four to accododate new ground - Robeson stood for years on the edge of a cornfield - and when Centennial was built Mattis was a gravel and oil road - there was a suburb about Kenwood - but Centennial and Jefferson were in the middle of nowhere. Schools do follow population
The current Unit Four elementary school population of Savoy - 311 students in all - is as follows:
White Students 173 - 56%
Black Students 39 - 12%
Hispanic students 11 - 3%
Asian Students 88 - 28%
So cracks about Savoy or any proposed Savoy school as being "lily white" ring a bit hollow here - unless you decide that one must count Hispanic and Asian students as being "white" - And remember that district wide - "white students only make up about 49% of the district population.
On the fact that you knew when you moved to Savoy that there was no school there - that's correct. However you do get told that if you move to Savoy - or Ironwood - or Boulder Ridge - that you participate under something called "Schoools of Choice". However "Schools of Choice" is somewhat misnamed - as you do not get much of a choice save that no one tells you that until you enter the system.
To a new family moving in - you apply to a school and you get a seat if there is one in the grade you need for a student of the correct race - which is either African American or non African American. Buildings must have no less than 23% African American population - or more than 52% - plus minus 15% of the fact that 38% of the overall number of students are African American.
So a African American 3rd grade student who moves three blocks away may not be able to attend Stratton - even though they have opening because he will put the building percenntage over 52% - and like wise the 3rd grade white student whose parents purchase a house across the street from Bottenfield can't go there because their arrival in an empty seat might drop the precentage of African American students there below 23%. The Bottenfield student can go to Stratton - and the Stratton student to Bottenfield - even though they may not be their school of choice.
No wonder newcomers are advised not to move to Champaign by their co-workers.
And you can't apply for a seat in a Unit Four School until you establish residency - so this idea that you should buy your house where you want to go to school is a bit difficult
The Kindergarden Lottery is another issue - but I need to go do some work now - will check back after lunch
Greg Novak
Again, thanks to Greg for an honest assessment with real numbers.
The fact the assessment was necessary, though, is yet another sign of the severity of the problems.
It's sort of like running your car off the road, blowing two tires, then finding a way to get the car back onto the highway. You may have solved one problem, but now you're back on the road with little ability to travel. That's Unit 4 in a nutshell.
Remind me again why I care about the county of Crook again? or anything that happens there? I dont. Could care less... It could fall into Lake Michigan and I wouldnt give a damn. Most people who live in Chicago have never heard of Champaign other than the U of I... thats why Southern Illinois is everything south of i80.
Sorry....just dont care....chicago has the strongest gun control law in the nation.... hasnt stopped the gang bangers one bit now has it.