Nearly 90 percent of the money for Du Page County schools comes from local property taxes, making a significant property tax cut virtually impossible unless state funding is increased dramatically.
And a new round of property assessment increases, which county officials say will average just under 10 percent this year, is setting the stage for new cries of tax relief by homeowners next year.
”Higher property assessments in Du Page County are knocking people back on their heels,” said Berardo DeSimone, Du Page County regional school superintendent, who said he supports an increase in the state income tax if property tax relief is included as a tradeoff. The new assessment notices are now being mailed to nearly 280,000 county taxpayers.
Though state Rep. Mary Lou Cowlishaw (R-Naperville), the minority spokeswoman of the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, supports the concept of more state spending for schools as a tradeoff for property tax relief, she said the vexing problem is ”how we go about it, taking into account the differences from one region to another, from the most urban to the most rural area” of the state.
High property taxes, with schools consuming two-thirds of that revenue, continue to be a pressing issue in Du Page County.
In 1989-90, the 45 Du Page school districts received $705 million from three sources: local property taxes, state aid and federal funds.
Local property taxes provided an average 86.5 percent of the districts`
budgets, state sources an average 11.8 percent and federal aid an average 1.7 percent of the budgets, according to an analysis of figures obtained from the Du Page County school superintendent`s office.
The statewide average, however, was 52.5 percent from local taxes, 39.9 percent state aid and 7.6 percent federal aid.
The reason for the wide disparity between Du Page and the Illinois averages, officials say, is the state school aid formula.
The formula is designed to give proportionally more money to districts with lower property values than to the richer districts. The aim is to make spending per pupil more nearly equal, though educators say that has not succeeded.
So Du Page County, with most school districts having high property values, receives far less state aid on the average than schools in the state`s 101 other counties.
Invariably, McAuley Elementary School near West Chicago-”the little red schoolhouse”-has the highest percentage of funds from property taxes, 97.7 percent, and the lowest from state aid, 2.3 percent, in the county. But McAuley is an anomaly because the one-room schoolhouse with two adjoining mobile classrooms has fewer than 25 pupils and reaps the property taxes of several industries within its borders.
But many Du Page school districts have virtually a 90-10 split of revenue between local taxes and state aid.
The only school district in Du Page receiving a greater proportion of state funds than the state average is Glendale Heights` Queen Bee Elementary School District 16, which has few commercial or industrial properties.
Queen Bee, which last year received 43.4 percent of its revenue from state aid, is made up mainly of houses with modest values-by Du Page standards-of $100,000 to $150,000.
Even with the state school aid formula, wide disparities exist in spending for each child, ranging from $10,644 at Seneca High School to $2,167 at Dalzell Elementary School, both in central Illinois.
In Du Page, the per-pupil spending range is from $10,479 at McAuley to $3,247 in Darien`s Center Cass Elementary District 63.
The gap in school spending patterns is widening, school finance experts say, because skyrocketing property values in the last 20 years have enabled the property-rich districts, such as those in Du Page County, to soar ahead in spending while state aid has failed to keep pace to help the poorer districts. That pattern led 47 school districts to file suit on Nov. 13 in Cook County Circuit Court charging that the state`s system of financing education does not meet the state constitution`s requirement for an ”efficient” system of public schools.
The efforts of the 47 districts prompted the General Assembly and Du Page County to form committees to study education spending and recommend ways to change. DeSimone will head the Du Page group.
Cowlishaw is one of 18 members of the Task Force on School Finance established by state lawmakers. It is expected to recommend a plan by May. Though she said it may seem relatively easy to suggest concepts such as a tradeoff of property tax relief for more state funds for schools, writing an effective law is another question.
”No matter what the plan, it always would cost a lot more money,”
Cowlishaw said of various ideas offered during her eight years in the legislature.
Of a number of proposals floated in the last year, the most ambitious would raise $4 billion by doubling the permanent 2.5 percent state income tax. Half would be earmarked for helping districts with low per-pupil spending. The other half would go to rich districts, if they would roll back property taxes. Cowlishaw said she has no specific plan and urges waiting for the task force recommendations. Even then, she emphasized, ”I have no certainty that the task force will propose something the General Assembly will approve and the governor will sign.”
Next year`s agenda for state lawmakers will include remapping legislative districts and considering whether to make the 20 percent income tax surcharge permanent. School finance reform might not be a top priority.
DU PAGE SCHOOL REVENUE 1989-90
Elementary school districts
School Local % State % Federal % Total
Addison 3,400,181 85.3 $1,868,197 11.9 $448,492 2.8 $15,715,870
Benjamin 2,473,493 75.5 780,563 23.8 15,030 .7 3,277,663
Bensenville 7,894,278 71.6 1,112,862 10.1 2,011,380 18.3 11,109,470
Bloomingdale 4,962,451 84.8 817,269 14.0 73,507 1.2 5,853,227
Bromberek 663,114 91.9 56,457 7.8 1,887 .3 721,458
Butler 4,110,574 95.5 181,243 4.2 12,484 .3 4,304,301
Carol 11,768,399 75.6 3,702,140 23.8 102,738 .6 15,580,608
Stream
Cass 3,174,434 85.5 493,559 13.2 49,016 1.3 3,717,009
Center Cass 3,850,894 85.2 643,197 14.2 25,190 .6 4,519,281
Darien 5,675,615 72.0 2,089,230 26.5 114,097 1.5 7,878,942
Downers
Grove 26,556,052 92.7 1,944,582 6.8 134,843 .5 28,635,477
Glen Ellyn
41 11,277,027 89.7 1,184,514 9.4 112,495 .9 12,574,036
Glen Ellyn
89 10,934,981 88.0 1,393,116 11.2 109,818 .8 12,437,915
Gower 5,119,458 93.4 309,716 5.7 50,722 .9 5,482,386
Hinsdale 15,057,823 94.6 782,877 4.9 72,659 .5 15,913,359
Itasca 4,048,354 92.9 278,544 6.4 29,933 .7 4,356,831
Keeneyville 4,965,579 60.8 3,132,024 38.3 72,773 .9 8,170,376
Lombard 15,909,290 91.1 1,299,964 8.0 151,245 .9 17,460,499
Maercker 3,982,880 89.5 425,122 9.3 54,449 1.2 4,452,451
Marquardt 7,659,211 71.5 2,897,971 27.0 157,365 1.5 10,714,547
McAuley 233,258 97.7 5,692 2.3 0 0 238,950
Medinah 4,077,817 88.1 383,358 8.3 167,024 3.6 4,628,199
Palisades 2,299,376 78.4 583,564 19.9 49,228 1.7 2,932,168
Puffer-Hefty 1,793,071 92.8 124,281 6.4 15,495 .8 1,932,847
Queen Bee 4,524,881 55.6 3,529,913 43.4 65,266 .8 8,138,060
Roselle 3,001,389 85.4 459,597 13.1 53,938 1.5 3,514,924
Salt Creek 5,002,756 95.6 202,304 3.9 30,082 .5 5,235,142
Villa Park 15,554,872 87.8 1,922,567 10.9 222,889 1.3 17,707,328
West Chicago 8,517,689 72.7 2,994,648 25.5 212,888 1.8 11,725,225
Winfield 1,492,703 84.4 258,353 14.6 18,046 1.0 1,769,102
Wood Dale 5,295,647 75.1 570,872 8.1 1,185,323 16.8 7,051,843
Woodridge 10,045,876 70.8 3,973,247 28.0 178,270 1.2 14,197,393
High school districts
Downers 32,890,930 89.6 3,534,975 9.6 277,926 .8 36,703,831
Grove
Du Page 27,146,162 89.5 2,818,696 9.3 370,628 1.2 30,335,486
Fenton 12,504,405 85.8 688,621 4.7 1,389,383 9.5 14,582,409
Glenbard 48,517,677 88.6 5,822,304 10.6 439,909 .8 54,779,890
Hinsdale 31,848,739 94.2 1,682,422 5.0 258,422 .8 33,789,583
Lake Park 15,760,331 87.9 2,027,381 11.3 140,328 .8 17,956,890
West 9,324,762 87.9 1,151,404 10.8 139,322 1.3 10,615,488
Chicago
Unit school districts
Elmhurst 34,237,943 89.9 2,612,626 6.9 1,228,128 3.2 38,078,697
Indian 31,295,468 88.6 3,840,935 10.9 188,183 .5 35,324,586
Prairie
Lisle 10,277,366 89.6 1,097,423 9.5 100,320 .9 11,475,109
Naperville 70,902,762 89.8 7,529,438 9.5 519,775 .7 78,951,975
Westmont 9,876,408 89.2 1,050,719 9.5 142,030 1.3 11,069,157
Wheaton-War 50,018,426 83.9 8,823,784 14.9 672,066 1.2 59,673,195
Source: Educational Service Region, Du Page County.
