The Examiner U-46 News Feed

U-46 Board discusses IASB resolution positions

By Seth Hancock
  The Board of Education in School District U-46 discussed its positions on resolutions for this weekend’s Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) convention.
  The IASB is the taxpayer funded lobbyist arm of government-run schools in Illinois. The Nov. 19 delegate assembly meeting, where Kate Thommes will represent the U-46 board, is when members vote on what the IASB will lobby for, or against, at the state and federal levels.
  The board discussed the resolutions at its Oct. 24 and Nov. 7 meetings.
  The most debated of three resolutions was one seeking the IASB to lobby the state to increase the distance requirements from 500 to 1,500 feet for gun stores from schools because the submitting district, from Mundelein, claims students seeing Americans exercising their Second Amendment rights has a negative effect on “mental health.”
  The IASB resolution committee opposed the resolution because it’s not enforceable, but Superintendent Tony Sanders said: “My thought on this one was that the law says you can’t have a gun store or carry a firearm within 1,000 feet of real property of a school, but there was no enforcement mechanism…. I would actually say do adopt.”
  Ultimately, the U-46 board agreed with the IASB committee, board member Melissa Owens stating: “I do understand the principle of it, but I think it’s not very enforceable.”
  U-46 will support a resolution to lobby for legislation that will limit the ability of taxpayers to file lawsuits against a school district for “excessive accumulation” in fund balances.
  Sanders said the district is “not close to the Miller Ratio,” a measure used to determine fund balances. He said currently a school district cannot have over two years’ worth of fund balances in any fund and the resolution seeks to increase it to three.
  “I think it seems to make sense to increase it, good fiscal stewardship,” said Sanders who added that the state increased it for townships to two and a half years recently.
  U-46 will oppose a resolution seeking federal and state tax dollars for electric buses and charging stations. Board members liked the resolution but feared it would negatively affect current transportation reimbursements.
  The IASB delegates will also vote on five proposed amendments to existing position statements as well as various deletions of language from statements.