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The Examiner U-46 News Feed

Dist. U-46 slated to vote on variety of proposals


By Seth Hancock
  The Board of Education in School District U-46 will vote on whether to double its funds to the Alignment Collaborative for Education (ACE) as well as an application for a property tax relief grant from the state at its upcoming meeting on Monday, Dec. 17. The items were presented on Dec. 3.
  Last year, ACE asked for $25,000 a year for three years but the board decided on only a one-year commitment citing a lack of transparency from the organization. This year, ACE is requesting $51,000 in U-46 taxpayer funds.
  ACE, which is comprised of government and business entities within U-46, was formed by former Superintendent Jose Torres in 2012.
  According to a donation history, U-46 has donated $70,000 since 2013 while another $656,927 has come from other sources although ACE provided no details on that funding. Other taxing bodies, like villages, donate and it is unclear how much of ACE’s funds come from taxpayers.
  ACE’s budget for 2018-19 is $196,000 with 72.6 percent ($142,385) going towards salaries, primarily to Nancy Coleman, ACE’s executive director.
  “The original intention of ACE was that it was to be funded by (private) donations, and I understand that it predominantly is,” said board member Jeanette Ward who added: “From my perspective, I think it should be fully funded by donations and this is double the amount that’s been requested from U-46 compared to last year.”
  U-46 CEO Tony Sanders has said previously “this is all paid for through fundraising.”
  Ward asked for clarification on “what exactly the $51K being requested is to be spent” on, but no answer was given.
  Coleman said similar organizations in other school districts have a fundraising partnership, and she claimed ACE has returned “over $30,000 in hard dollars back to U-46 and $40,000 in volunteer hours.”
  Board member Melissa Owens said: “If there’s a tracking of that and a reporting of that so that we as a board can see that and point back to that and know all of those pieces because we don’t, we don’t see what’s happening in the community like that.”
  Coleman replied: “We will do a better job of that, and I appreciate the question that Ms. Ward sent to us because it allows us to look as a community. It is a strong statement for a community, U-46 and business partners to put over $700,000 into building a collaboration that hopefully will carry this district forward for 15 to 20 years.”
  Board member Phil Costello said he understood it was a “significant increase,” but he added: “I think it’s a good investment even if I can’t see tangible results right here today, which I always look for, but I understand that this is not a leap of faith, it’s a progress report that we’ll be looking for.”
  Regarding the property tax relief, U-46 is applying for $43 million but expects mush less. Jeff King, deputy superintendent of operations, said the grant was part of the recent so-called “evidence-based” funding formula model being adopted by the state.
  “The legislature set aside $50 million for this property tax relief grant,” King said. “The $50 million is to cover the whole state.”
  King added: “We applied for the maximum of what they said we could…. The amount will be contingent upon how many districts apply, so we won’t know that probably [until] the end of the month, first week of January.”
  Ward said: “I’m very happy to hear that we have applied. So I wanted to clarify on the $43 million, it falls under the category that says ‘expected tax relief,’ but that’s not really our expected tax relief. That is what the state of Illinois allows us to apply for?
  “If every school district in the state asked for the relief that they’re entitled to, or allowed under this application process, we could see $10,000 or less if everybody submitted an application?”
  King said that was “correct” but said he expected from $1 million to $5 million.
  Owens said the deadline was Jan. 7, 2019 to apply and asked how quick the state would respond to which King said “it will have to be early to mid January,” and Sanders said: “It shouldn’t take the state that long, I wouldn’t think.”
  Board member John Devereux said he’s heard some concerns, such as districts possibly “trading dollars away,” but King said: “I don’t see any downside to it whatsoever.”
  The board will also vote on the 2019 capital projects list with an estimated $11.9 million in projects as well as $1 million over four expenditure proposals, all to be paid for through the education fund if approved.
  Included is a one-year contract with RJ Gartner Consulting ($45,600) for consultancy regarding telecommunications management and a proposal with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ($513,962) to replace English as a second language textbooks. Two proposals with Dell EMC would cost $451,440, for 1,500 chromebooks, and $33,600, for 20 interactive boards.

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