D46 is a consolidated district. Are you saying each of the towns within the district should have it's own school system? I'm not sure I understand what you are proposing.

I think he/she means a unit district, i.e. combining elementary and high school. Which of course the mayor would have nothing to do with forming.

Ah, got it. Actually, combining would be a good idea, but how would the district lines be redrawn? It would also disrupt other districts in the area to some degree. I found school districts very odd when I first came to Illinois. Several Elementary and High School Districts with just two schools? There's a district I believe around Niles that is just one (one!) K-8 school. The Avoca school district takes students from parts of Wilmette, Winnetka, and Glenview and has just two schools- an elementary and a middle. To me, that's where a lot of waste comes from with all of the administrators.

What part of the fact that our property taxes are higher than any other local district do you NOT seem to grasp? What part of the fact that the taxes are higher than mortgage payments, and that it is not sustainable? Endlessly raising taxes to the maximum, claiming that is the only thing keeping D46 and D127 schools "good" is patently absurd. I suggest if the "silent majority" has money to burn, you start writing checks to the district. No one is stopping you. The rest of us would like to keep our homes, thank you very much. Put YOUR money where your big mouth is.

As good citizens, we should patronize all our community's business. These 30 are no different. When you do, if you take the time, they'll tell you how much they appreciate that you did and respect your ability to make a choice.

Right on, Johnson. And when you support these business's with your patronage, they make money. When they make money, they pay taxes. And taxes are what the community runs on.

I certainly don't disagree with you. I think the point was made that you might have meant "Unified", where the district represents K-12 and no overlapping boundaries. I wonder where that conversation begins? I know so many consolidated and unified districts would be effected, it's difficult to fathom where to start. Anyone know?

Consolidation of the 3 districts serving Grayslake will NEVER happen. None of the 3 districts share the same boundaries. D127 and D46 each educate students from 7 different towns. Woodland would only consider giving D46 the Grayslake houses if it were financially beneficial to D50, which translates into financially NOT benefical to D46. There is also the issue of school building locations. D46 has buildings in 4 different towns. The district officially changed its name several years ago to reflect their makeup. That is why it is Community Consolidated District 46, not Grayslake District 46.

While I think a unified district might be possible it would take a lot of work and negotiation with other districts. Here is a map that has ccsd46 and an overlay of d127

http://ww2.d46.org/images/DistrictBoundaries.png.

As you can see there are other elementary districts that partially feed into the high school district. You would have to do a lot number crunching to see how much that would save or cost us and then tackle the issue of schools switching districts. It is possible, but requires loads of cooperation between the various districts, boards and communities.

Each of these districts take students from more than just Grayslake. Before anything could be done, a whole new map would have to be drawn and would probably cause a lot of chaos at the beginning. But as I said above, I think consolidating the smaller districts would be a good idea.

Read Karen's post above. IMHO she is correct. D46 is not an attractive partner to any other district in any conceivable scenario. We have no commercial/industrial tax base to speak of, and no prospects for any major development without considerable improvement to state roadways (Rt. 120, 83). What can we offer anyone beyond colorful school board meetings?

I agree. The system is broken and while the BOE has plenty of issues, I feel no matter how good they are and how hard they try they will still struggle to keep taxes down. The system is flawed at the state level and there is only so much the BOE can do to appropriately manage education with the taxpayer’s expectations.

Good luck in drawing businesses when their tax bills will be higher than any other nearby location. Homes are not selling, you think development is going to occur? Have you seen the "for rent" signs on the single family homes where people who HAD to move but couldn't sell their homes due to insane taxes are now trying to rent them out? Until the crazy property taxes in this area are resolved, there will BE no development, period.

Right Sandra and until there are more businesses in CCSD 46 the taxes will not go down. The more businesses in the district, the less taxes all around as they will be more spread out. I am not saying it will be easy to draw new businesses to Grayslake, but without them residential taxes will continue to climb. Unfortunately that is how the state has the education system set up. It is completely unreasonable to expect the BOE to never pass a tax levy increasing taxes as that is there primary means for generating revenue. Cost of living increases every year, so the budget cannot always remain the same.

My great idea would be to do whatever other school districts are doing to live within their means. I happen to own a rental property in Glenview District 34. My tax rate there is 6-7% Last year here, my tax rate was 12%. I paid about 5 percent of my TOTAL home value in taxes, whereas in Glenview, which has excellent schools, and without a homeowners exemption, I paid 2%. So smartmouth, my "great idea" is to do whatever Glenview D34 and ALL the other districts are doing who are not spending taxpayer money like water for mediocre results.

I have outlined many solutions before. I gave options with my 5 yr contract proposal.

There is also pension reform, a hybrid system of defined benefits and defined contributions, similar to Rhode Island. Here is the starting point for a plan: http://www.lenniejarratt.com/issues/pension-reform/

@ Sandra - "Living with their means" is a lot easier in Glenview D34 than it is in D46. Their means includes a significant portion of The Glen, all of the retail along Waukegan Rd., plus a considerable amount of light industrial. Which is why D34 spends money just like we do, only quite a bit more of it.

Sandra,
Apples to Oranges !, They have a budget of 66 Million dollars and have a reserve of 29 Million. They serve 4,850 students with 407 teachers and 8 schools. They too are in deficit spending of about 500K for the last year, but it is not as big of an impact because they have a 29Million dollar reserve in the Education fund. How is this living within their means? Oh, yeah like Nightcrawler stated. They have a larger commercial and retail tax base to draw from, that is why. The biggest problem for D46 is that it is almost entirely a bedroom community. So you have any other Great Ideas Sandra?
Here is their school report card.
http://www.glenview34.org/aboutUs/reportCards/2012/D34_2012.pdf
Here is their 2013 Budget directly from their website:
http://www.glenview34.org/board/budget/IL_50_36_FINAL%209_24_12.pdf

I used D34 as an example because I own property there and know the tax rate firsthand. I do believe I said D46 might follow the example of ALL the other local districts that do not have our insanely high tax rates., But of course you zero in on Glenview, because you don't want to have a discussion, you want to score points. And Johnson (perfect name), fyi, there have been many many foreclosures in D46. The rentals are just the people who weren't in foreclosure but had to move. My point about rentals is that you can't give your house away, even at a loss, because of the taxes. I never claimed to have all the solutions, oh mighty one. What's YOUR idea, raise property taxes to 20 grand on a 150k home? Gee, you're brilliant.

Sandra, Do you own a house in D46?

"You don't want to have a discussion" must be In the play book somewhere. Whenever some of us bring something up that might contradict a Sandra or a Lennie or a Lisa, they say something to the effect that it is we don't want real discussion so they won't discuss anything. It has to be on their terms or they're not interested (more likely not able).

Correction-

"...say something to the effect that it is we who don't want real discussion..." I left out the "who" in my post.

I think you are the one that is confused and your purpose on here is to confuse every one else too. You try to make people not read these articles, because if they do, they might actually see that he doesn't dehumanize people like you do. Like you do to us, or any other person who doesn't think like you. We believe there is a solution, that could save pensions. As it stands right now, there isn't going to be anything left, SOON. Things have to change. But you go ahead and make sure that people coming to the table to talk are bullied into not coming to the table at all. That is what you do best. You spread fear and lies. What a feather in your cap.

Thanks for once again proving why I don't answer your questions. You don't want an honest discussion.

The plan I proposed still allows for retirement at more than twice Social Security. With your logic, everyone on SS will be in poverty and starving.

I try to make people not read those articles? How do I do that? Hypnosis? I have no control over what others do, so try again. I want people to come to the table. I don't want frauds to be there pushing their own personal agenda though. The only one who is afraid is you Lisa. What if everyone were to find out that your husband's grand plan is just a crock. Kind of like when he was blown out at the election. Not many people are buying what either of you are peddling.

Lennie, do you really think I believe you one iota? You don't answer my, or anyone else's questions who don't believe in your snake oil because you have no answers! You know nothing about education. "For our children's future"? What the hell does that mean educationally? You have nothing to say about curriculum, about educational philosophy or psychology, about what makes a school successful or not successful, about the merits or drawbacks of standardized testing, about how home life impacts educational performance, about how special education or ELL works, about the realities in the classroom and the needs of the students, and on and on. THAT is what educating our students is about. It has nothing to do with the BS you spout.

"I would hope their pensions would be twice SS" -- Thank you for agreeing that my proposal is acceptable.

Thanks, Marvin. Well stated.

I've seen the arguments and the figures the BOE supplied regarding "distressed sales" in D46. I think it's inappropriate to report many of those sales as distressed (like short sales tat represent the majority). That would be like saying anytime you sold an investment at a loss, it was a "distressed sale". Many people sell short with eyes wide open. They choose to move, or get relocated, or the motivation is for reasons other than economic. I also find it hard to believe that properties are being foreclosed upon because the taxes are too high. There have to be other reasons in the mix. Bottom line is that I don't believe 60% of the sales in D46 are the result of economic distress. And even if they were, what percentage of total homeowners in D46 does that represent? No one wants higher taxes, but I do believe the majority of D46 residents understand how our district is funded, aren't budgeted so close that $40 per month would put them in foreclosure, and are willing to step up to the plate for a better community.

Tell you what... if you live in Grayslake or in D46 for that matter, why don't you investigate how much your home would get right now. How much did you pay for it? What would you make if you sold your home right now? Go ahead, tell me that the market isn't in distress. What isn't fair about it... that you are forced to look at how bad things really are?

LMJ,
I'm not certain why you are taking such a hostile tone with me. Maybe it is just your passion. I have a rough idea of what my home is worth, and yes, I'm glad I'm not moving. If I had to move, I would sell it for what it's worth and move on. I did not purchase my home as an investment. It is where I raised my children and intend to live indefinitely. But if I wanted, or had, to move, I guess I might just chalk it up to a bad one in today's market.

Gosh Sandra, maybe you haven't checked the constitution lately. I believe freedom of speech may be mentioned somewhere. If you want to have a constructive dialogue on education, great. If you want to appear ignorant, there's nothing I can do about that.

You offer nothing constructive. What goes on in D46 is none of your business; the only reason you post on every thread regarding the district is to fight with Lennie. The rest of us, who are affected by the taxes and the strikes and the dysfunction, are bored silly with your childish BS. And I don't give a rat's about "education" in the abstract, I care about the district where I live and pay taxes. Why don't you go argue about YOURS? And, perhaps, find a life.

If you cared about the children, the students of D46, Sandra, you would give a "rat's" about education in the abstract. Education is the future for these kids. What is so difficult to understand about that? I care about education regardless of the district. I guess that's too abstract for you.

Do you "care about education" in other districts, like maybe the one you LIVE in? Or just D46? And if so, why? What is your obsession with our district? Once again, you raise all sorts of disturbing red flags.

Why yes Sandra, I do. I care about all the school districts that are being torn apart because of bad policies, bad boards of education, and outside attacks by groups like the tea party who want to press their own agenda onto the rest of the country. Thank you for asking. I guess I would raise flags to one who is so hostile and mistrustful of people they don't agree with.

I intend to write the BOE and village trustees to let them them know that I feel it's worthy of discussion.

Again. A unified district is not a reality. It would not relieve our tax burden. Take the following as an example. What would happen if D46 expanded their boundaries eastward to Rte 45 to have the same boundary as D127. D46 would gain students from College Trail, Hunters Ridge, the 2 subdivisions on the south side of 120 between the Jewel shopping center and Lake Forest Hospital, and Prairie Crossing. In what school building would we find room to accomodate the influx of students? It certainly won't be the Prairie Crossing School building. Which is another key point. Woodland has spent years begging the state of Illinois to remove the burden on their district that is the Prairie Crossing charter school. Move the boundaries and that tax drain will become ours. A unified district is a lost cause, and it is no way under the jurisdiction of the villages, the mayors or their boards. The best plan forward would be to keep encouraging future growth to be more balanced.

I would agree that a unified district is unrealistic.

That is certainly not a pretty picture. It does support my point, though. Last year, less than one half of one percent of the properties were foreclosed upon. Can you venture a guess at how many were attributed to high taxes?
I still maintain that the overwhelming majority of this community understands how schools are funded and do not object to increases to support them. That was the feeling I got from the folks I spoke with on Sunday.

Those numbers are for Dec. 2012 only. There are currently 466 foreclosures or 7.5% of the homes in Grayslake.

The Round Lake Area show an even greater rate of foreclosure (triple), but there isn't a breakdown by the school district boundaries. They have 1,589 current foreclosures.

If you go into actual sales information the following are the % of homes sold in distress: http://www.championnews.net/blog/2012/12/21/school-districts-begin-to-get-the-message-and-freeze-property-taxes/

2011 Closed sales: 53.8%
2012 Closed sales: 52.5%
2012 Active Properties: 68.64%

I'm so glad Lennie answered this way. You are making yourself look bad.

How childish.

Lennie has invited everyone to meet with him, and have a real dialog with him. You are afraid to do that and spread your lies. It is crystal clear.

I don't think she ever pretended to be anything else.