Savoy

For the second year in a row, the annual Showcase of Homes will be in Savoy. Fieldstone subdivision is located just east of Rt. 45 on Airport Rd. The Showcase starts today and runs through July 27th.

If you are anything like me, I get a bit envious seeing the clever alcoves, gigantic home theaters and all those kitchen cabinets. Who buys these places anyway? Sigh.

From yesterday's News-Gazette:

Purchase of the Lo property means that, out of 19 properties, only one 7-acre piece would remain to be acquired. Schmidt said the local governments are likely going to have to use their "quick-take" eminent domain authority to obtain that property, which he said is owned by a defunct land trust. Under quick take, the city gets immediate control of the property while a purchase price is litigated.

The next phase of the Curtis Road project calls for building a four- and five-lane road for 1 1/2 miles from Wynstone Drive in Champaign to Wesley Avenue in Savoy. It will cost $12.1 million. Of that amount, $5.7 million will be federal funding, with the county paying $3.7 million and Champaign and Savoy paying $1.6 million each.

Discuss.

Both Champaign Unit 4 and Rantoul Township High School boards have voted to support a November ballot question asking voters for a one percent sales tax increase to support education.  Both Districts are using a miniscule amount of property tax relief to mask their request for the largest-possible tax increase, as have most other area school districts, and most media reports are emphasizing the property tax relief as if it somehow offsets the sales tax revenue which will be generated.

It will be interesting to see if the County Board puts the full one-percent increase on the ballot, or if they settle for a smaller amount.

And it will be interesting to see how long the "this is about property tax relief" storyline is allowed to play out before people realize that the sales tax revenues of a one percent increase are several times larger than the maximum amount of property tax relief allowable.

There is another batch of Great Schools Together community forums:

The schedule for the upcoming forums is:

– 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Washington Elementary School, 606 E. Grove St., C. Topic: Excellence and Equity.

– 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. May 5, Garden Hills Elementary School, 2001 Garden Hills Drive, C. Topic: Programs.

– 2 to 4 p.m. May 18, Barkstall Elementary School, 2201 Hallbeck Drive, C. Topic: Buildings.

– 10 a.m. to noon, and 2 to 4 p.m. May 31, Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, 1310 N. Sixth St., C. Open topic forums, with a cook-out between forums.

This is really cool:

WILL AM-FM-TV is videotaping interviews at each forum and posting them on a Web site dedicated to the school planning process. It is http://will.atlas.uiuc.edu/greatschools.

Discuss.

Champaign Unit 4 is studying its demographics:

Tomlinson said new housing in north and northwest Champaign has added families in that area. The school district needs to put more elementary seats in the north part of Champaign to satisfy a requirement of the consent decree. He said the data shows a need in the future for a school in north Champaign.

He said southwest Champaign is built out to the school district boundaries, but there is still growth to the south.

The study also shows the Asian and Latino populations in the Champaign school district are growing, the black population is holding steady, and the white population is down somewhat because of a declining birth rate.

Are they talking about population living in District boundaries or population enrolled in schools?

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.

The first Champaign Unit 4 "Great Schools Together"community forum will be tonight at 6:30 PM at Centennial.

From today's News-Gazette:

The biggest challenge for Champaign school Superintendent Arthur Culver in the next year or so will be to see the district's consent decree come to a successful conclusion.

That was a priority for the Champaign school board when they evaluated Culver in closed session Monday night.

The board discussed with Culver both the things they felt were going well in the district and those areas where they want to see improvement.

"Making sure this last year of the consent decree, we really continue to ... satisfactorily meet the goals that were laid out ... We see that as a big issue in the next year and a half to complete that, and probably the biggest thing facing the district," said board President Dave Tomlinson.

Discuss.

From yesterday's News-Gazette:

Under the approved agreement, most residential property will not be annexed for 25 years. But all new developments will have to annex into the MTD district once they are annexed into the village and become contiguous with the MTD boundary.

"We're throwing them under the bus," Dykstra said. Even if those individuals know about the tax, Dykstra said, they will not want to pay it. She said now that the agreement has been passed, she hopes to see the village watch over the MTD and challenge the district to prove its services are being used.

Trustee Bill Smith said he had some concerns about the MTD and asked about having a representative work closely with the transit board.

"I'm disappointed because we as a village had the unique opportunity to make MTD accountable in a variety of ways," Dykstra said. "I think we've missed it."

Discuss.

From the NG:

Savoy voters decided by an overwhelming majority Tuesday to approve a half-cent sales tax increase.

The results ended with 74 percent of the voters approving the increase and 26 percent opposed. Also, 73 people, who participated in the voting, did not vote on the ballot question.

Savoy shoppers will see the sales tax increase from 6.5 to 7 percent starting April 1.

The MTD rejects the Savoy annexation agreement:

Champaign-Urbana's mass transit board on Wednesday unanimously rejected an annexation agreement with Savoy that would have required rebating tax money to the village.

The issue has been left hanging since November, when Savoy's board voted 5-1 to forward an agreement with MTD that changes its annexation map and stipulates that the MTD must reimburse the village for 10 percent of the Savoy property tax payments for 25 years.

The rebated money would be used to repair and maintain roads.

Though MTD did not have a board meeting in December, individual members have been saying for nearly two months that approving the tax rebates would set a dangerous precedent, suggesting to boards in Champaign and Urbana or any future annexation area that they seek infrastructure reimbursement.

CUMTD had a blog post responding to concerns about road damage here.

From today's News-Gazette:

The Champaign school board will begin its evaluation of Superintendent Arthur Culver on Thursday evening, but it won't be extending his contract any further this year.

The board will meet in closed session at 6 p.m. at the Mellon Administrative Center, 703 S. New St., C, but it will not formally evaluate Culver at the meeting.

Board President Dave Tomlinson said Culver asked that his contract not be extended this year.

"He felt the new board wanted more time to work with him before making any decision to extend or not extend," Tomlinson said, adding the decision not to discuss a contract extension this year was a joint one between Culver and the board.

With five new board members elected last spring, it was not the time to ask for a contract extension, Culver said.

"It's not fair to this current board," he said. "They want a part of setting goals." Culver's current contract goes through 2012.

Discuss.

From today's News-Gazette, a follow-up by Champaign Unit 4 School Board to discussions on here last week:

A Champaign school board member questioned whether allowing students an excused tardy for them to pray at school is justifiable.

The issue came up at a school board meeting Monday evening.

School board member Greg Novak said the issue is not one of school prayer, but of allowing the students to arrive late for class because they were praying.

Novak noted the biggest discipline problem at the Champaign high schools is tardiness. He said the district must remain neutral on the issue of school prayer, and he questioned whether it was doing so by allowing the excused tardies.

Discuss.

From an email:

We received a legal opinion from our attorney regarding the practice of daily prayer by Muslim students in our schools.  According to our attorney’s analysis of legal statutes and case law, the District’s past practice of allowing the students a designated time and place to practice their religion is appropriate.  The District does not encourage or participate in the practice of said religion, but, neither do we inhibit the student’s practice of his religion.  Staff has reported that providing a designated place for a Muslim student’s daily prayer is less disruptive than forcing the students to seek random accommodations for the practice of their religion.  
 
I understand your concerns, however, to change our current practice could violate the rights of students.  This practice applies to all students.  Thank you for communicating your concerns.  
 
Arthur Culver

Discuss.

There are some Champaign Unit 4 School Board members (Greg Novak, Kristine Chalifoux, others?) on WDWS' Penny for Your Thoughts right now, discussing the Vision Committee.

From Saturday's News-Gazette:

Next school year, Champaign students could take their semester exams and end their semester before winter break, and school could start three days earlier this August, under a proposed calendar for the 2008-09 school year.

The school board is scheduled to discuss the calendar at 7 p.m. Monday at the Mellon Administrative Center, 703 S. New St. It won't vote on the calendar until the February meeting.

It's a change many in the district would like to see. In December, teachers, support staff, parents, administrators and some students were asked about the proposed changes, and most were supportive.

"People recognize that having semester exams before winter break just makes more sense educationally," said George Stanhope, the district's director of elementary curriculum, gifted/talented classes and assessment. "But they also realize it's hot in August and there are some drawbacks to starting then, kids and teachers having to work in hot classrooms. You don't get your best learning then."

Discuss.

From yesterday's News-Gazette:

A new task force will explore over the next several months whether Champaign, Urbana and Savoy should require subdivision developers to provide land or cash for future parks.

The task force will also explore other ways park districts could acquire property in growth areas.

The creation of the nine-member task force comes some two years after the Champaign Park District board first asked the city council, in December 2005, to consider requiring land or cash donations from subdivision developers. During the interim, park district and city staff members put together a 52-page report detailing "issues and needs" for providing parks, trails and open space in new subdivisions.

We've discussed this before. Philosophically, I don't care for requiring land donation, but as a practical matter, it doesn't really bother me, as it would negotiated with developers as part of pre-annexation agreements.

I don't like this idea of relying on figures from the National Parks and Recreation Association, though, to determine how much green space a community should have per capita.  From the earlier post:

Champaign Park District Executive Director Bobbie Herakovich said the National Park and Recreation Association recommends that cities have at least 10 acres of park land per 1,000 residents.

They are hardly a fair source, and while I know people are loath to question the motives of the good people who run our parks, this organization's function is explicitly to advocate for more parks and greenspace.  Using their figures for a discussion like this is like basing the government's dietary recommendations for meat consumption on a standard set by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

So, we have this big task force formed to plan for the future of Unit 4 schools.  And here is what we get from the NG story:

But perhaps the biggest dilemma facing them is how to change negative perceptions of the school district....

"I believe the challenge of misperceptions is huge," said Imani Bazzell, who is active on several school committees, including its equity committee.

"The biggest challenge is separating perceptions from reality," she said. "You counter rumor, you counter innuendo, you counter misperceptions with facts."

There it is.  We don't have actual problems in our schools.  It's just that there are so many stupid parents (the customers) making uninformed decisions.  We need better PR, not better discipline or responsiveness or security or safety.

If this is the consensus of the task force and the board, nothing will be changed.  Pitiful.

UPDATE:  As of 2:30 pm, it is apparent that this is not the consensus of the task force and board - and that is a good thing.  There is still hope.

From today's News-Gazette:

For the first time in three years, Jan. 1 will pass without an increase in cable rates for current customers of Insight Communications.

As of that date, Comcast will take over Insight's franchise in the area, including Danville. But cable rates and channel lineups will remain the same, according to Melody Brucker, Insight's district vice president.

The only difference Insight customers should notice after Jan. 1 is the Comcast name appearing on their bills, she said.

"There will not be any local change in management," she said.

All 130 of Insight's employees in the area are expected to be retained, she added.

I'm awfuly happy with my service since I switch to DirecTV and over-the-air locals, although it was a pain to get set up.  If anyone is interested in switching to DirecTV, I'd be happy to help you - and collect a $50 referral for doing so.  :-)

I still wish I could get DSL in my neighborhood.

Don't forget:

The Champaign school district will hold a public hearing Monday night on its proposed 2007 tax levy of almost $73 million – a 16.79 percent increase over the nearly $63 million in property taxes collected by the school district last year.

The district will likely collect about $66 million, an increase of $3 million or about 6 percent over last year, according to the calculations of Chief Financial Officer Gene Logas. So why is it asking for so much more than that?

The amount the district can collect is limited by tax cap legislation to either the rate of inflation or 5 percent, whichever is lower. The limit does not apply to new construction the first year it becomes taxable.

The assessor's office estimates the area covered by the school district will have $58 million in new construction. But if the actual amount is higher and the school district doesn't levy enough, it won't be able to collect all the possible taxes on new construction.

That's why, during the last three years, the district's levy has averaged about 16 percent higher than the previous year's taxes. The actual increase has averaged 6.5 percent.

It doesn't matter what the district asks for, Logas said. The amount it will receive in property taxes is based on the tax cap formula.

The meeting is tonight at 7 PM at the Mellon Administrative Center.  Agenda is here.