Brad Carpenter–student council president, band and drama club member and athlete–wants his two younger brothers to enjoy extracurricular activities as much as he has during his nearly four years at Johnsburg High School.
But that won’t happen for the younger Carpenters and the 2,400 other students in Johnsburg Unit District 12 if a March 19 referendum proposal to increase the educational fund tax rate to $3.93 from $3.43 per $100 assessed valuation is voted down, the school board has said.
Instead of having athletic teams to play on or cheer for, and instead of having band and clubs to join after school, the students would hear the doors slam shut after 3 p.m.
“That would be a real shame–it’s just beyond me,” said Carpenter, 18, a senior. “There would be a lot more students getting into trouble with alcohol and drugs, because a lot of them wouldn’t have a clue of what to do with their time without sports or clubs.
“I know I wouldn’t be the same person because a lot of my life is shaped by extracurricular activities.”
The five-school district is struggling against a combination of factors also confronting many other districts across the state: the limits of the property tax cap; a shortage of business and industry to support the tax base; voters stretching their wallets when they buy a house to the point where another $150 a year in property taxes (on a $100,000 house) would pinch them; and voter apathy, reflected in the fact that the number of school parents who were registered voters was only about 50 percent before a recent registration drive started by a committee favoring the tax proposal.
The proportion of property owners who have children in Johnsburg schools is only 30 percent, said school board President John Heidler, pointing to the dominance of “empty nesters” who are trying to save for retirement.
Although many districts have these problems, the difference in Johnsburg, where voters turned down a smaller tax hike in 1994, is that the budget deficit has grown to $700,000 and the district’s financial reserve will be gone by the end of this school year, resulting in an unbalanced budget, Supt. Robert Gough said.
The last time the district passed a tax proposal was 1988, and that was the first hike in the educational tax fund in 25 years, records show. The district tax rate ranks 12th out of 15 county districts.
“We cannot cut expenses any further without impacting very deeply on the classroom, so we have notified our athletic conference and all of our scheduled opponents that we will not field a team next school year if the referendum is defeated,” Gough said. “It has come to that.”
For the past 20 years, Illinois school districts have grappled with balancing cuts between the classroom and sports.
Rockford eliminated all sports and other after-school activities for the entire 1975-76 school year after voters rejected a tax hike. Richmond-Burton High School sports and activities survived by a mere 50 votes three years ago, a year after the school won a state football championship. Other districts have cut back dramatically on the number of sports without eliminating after-school programs altogether.
In each case, the effect was immediate and lasting, officials in Rockford and Richmond say.
“Juvenile crime rates increased and it changed the whole pattern of living for young people. Instead of athletics or clubs, it was getting a job or getting into trouble,” said Carole Newcomer, head of the Rockford Sports Coalition, a booster group of parents, business and civic groups that was organized to help raise money for athletics four years ago when schools again faced a budget crunch.
“It took a long time to turn student patterns around after 1976, and some people feel that our city has still not gotten it all back. I would hope it doesn’t go that far in another community,” Newcomer said.
At least a small group of residents in the Johnsburg district remains unconvinced.
“The money would be going for sports instead of education,” said Susan Swinford, a member of Citizens Against Higher Taxes, a group of about 10 residents. “If the district thinks so much about sports, why doesn’t it increase the fees that athletes have to pay?”
Gough acknowledged that part of the district’s problem is convincing voters that there is no fistful of dollars that will suddenly appear for activities if the referendum question is defeated.
“Part of the problem is credibility, but the school board has a track record of doing what they say they’re going to do,” Gough said. “As in any campaign, all we can do is try to be forthright and put out as many facts as possible.”
