A band belted the song, “Gimme Some Lovin’, ” almost as a subtle message to beleaguered suburban educators who met in Elgin on Wednesday to discuss nagging school funding problems.
And, by some telling twist of fate, the meeting convened by Joseph Spagnolo, the new state superintendent of education, was held at one of the state’s most financially strapped districts, Elgin Unit District 46.
“We’re very glad to have him here and listen to his answers to these grave problems we face,” said Marvin Edwards, District 46 superintendent of schools, who eliminated scores of programs and some 200 teaching and staff positions this year to fill a $25 million hole in his district budget.
What Edwards and about 50 other school district administrators from Kane, McHenry, Boone, DeKalb and Winnebago Counties heard from Spagnolo was a promise to find solutions in a package of reforms that he will submit to the General Assembly by winter.
Among the problem areas Spagnolo said he will address: boosting the amount of money the state kicks in for public education; setting uniform academic standards; raising the amount of money spent per pupil in poorer districts; and reducing the amount of state mandates, such as teaching driver’s education.
Most importantly, Spagnolo said, his plan will detail ways to pay for his plans.
“We are on a mission of change,” said Spagnolo, 51, who most recently had been superintendent of public instruction in Virginia before taking the top education post in Illinois. “I don’t think there’s any doubt the state should be doing more.”
The state’s share of public education financing has shrunk in recent years while real estate owners have seen their slice of the financing pie grow larger.
For instance, in 1989 the state footed the bill for 40 percent of the cost of public education, while homeowners paid 53 percent. By 1993, the state’s share had shrunk to 33 percent while property owners saw their contribution grow to 59 percent.
And with the growth in property taxes, disgruntled suburban taxpayers have defeated one funding referendum after another. The fallout has been overcrowded schools and districts that have taken such drastic steps as eliminating teachers and staff, and putting students on staggered shifts.
Suburban tax caps, which limit annual tax increases to 5 percent or the rate of inflation in the collar counties, have kept some districts from raising the money they say they need to finance school districts bursting at the seams with new students.
District 46 is familiar with those obstacles. The district recently got final approval, after a lengthy court-supervised recount, to proceed with a $172 million bond sale to build new schools and hire additional teachers.
Other administrators in attendance Wednesday face similar problems. Huntley is grappling with growth and has a tax-hike referendum question on the fall ballot. So does Crystal Lake 155, which is asking for more money for crowded high schools and which has a $2 million deficit.
Spagnolo said he hopes to bring a halt to the state’s financing problems, which have forced school districts to take drastic steps to remain solvent.
Spagnolo, 51, who was appointed in June to replace a retiring Robert Leininger, inherited a state agency during a time when 145 of 932 school districts statewide are in such bad financial shape the state is considering taking them over.
“We have to look at all areas for answers to the funding problems,” Spagnolo said. “We should not single out just one tax as solving these problems,” he said, adding that his plan may look at boosting property taxes, sales taxes and income taxes to finance it.
In addition, he said, the state may need some creative new taxes, such as a new tax on legal services, to bring “equity” in what some districts pay per pupil. The range in Illinois goes from between $2,800 in poor districts to up to $14,000 in rich districts, he said.
Spagnolo declined to reveal the rest of his plan, adding that much of it was in the formative stages.
But what he said was enough to brighten the hopes of the administrators and educators who came to meet him for the first time.
“He’s got a real sensitivity to our problems and what will help us provide the best level of education,” said Joe Saban, superintendent of Crystal Lake High School District 155.
