Are we getting what we are paying for?

While researching I found a Teacher & Administrator Salary Database. Of the top 200 salaries for 2009 in IL listed was District 131 superintendent Jerome Roberts.

The 100 highest-paid school administrators in Illinois in 2006 had salaries ranging from $205,590 to $380,227. Seventeen made more than a quarter million dollars. One of those individuals was none other than Michael Radakovich.
While employed by 131 School Board he was one of 17 superintendents in the Quarter Million dollar Club for 2006

What should determine a superintendents salary?
Should it be linked to teachers salary increase? District improvement? Achievement?

An update of salaries and break down of D131 administrative salaries can be viewed at: http://d131.org/Employment/Admin%20List%20for%20Posting%202009-2010.pdf

More info may be found at:
http://www.illinoisloop.org/salary.html
http://www.familytaxpayers.org/salary.php

For the stars hiding in the shadows

It has been requested of the district, at least a few times, to acknowledge those unsung heroes & those shining stars who hide in the shadow of others. There are many who want to place blame why we don't recognize all these folks. Instead, lets try to shout out praise to those students excelling even when no one is looking, those teachers/ staff who go above and beyond without incentive from pay or recognition from their superiors. Let's start early by giving thanks to those, you know, deserving of a story in the paper or a community award or honored as best example of all around great student.

What was that old song they used to sing? "If they don’t ask, we won’t tell?"

The previous 131 School Board president was the scapegoat for many controversial discussions. She dared to question- why?

Nearly all new faces are on the 131 School Board since the Bigelow & Indian Trail discussions. It seems it is back to business as usual. The few small steps forward for transparency have gone to the wayside.

I recall the Magnet Academy parents packing the Board room when there was a possibility of their children being denied that ”special place” for learning. I wonder if those parents will attend the Board meeting on Monday to offer the district their monetary contributions should there be a rent increase on the space that houses the Magnet Academy?

According to Dan Barriero, the city has asked the district to respond to the rent increase by Oct 1st, prior to the Board meeting on Oct. 4th. Should this 131 decision have warranted a vote by the School Board in open session?

The Board president was quoted in the news. She thinks a dollar a year rent would be fine. I am sure she does, as she has stated on several occasions her contacts with the Mayor left her confident there would be no additional costs to the district for this school. Seems like that song has been sung before. Arguments in favor of opening the Academy included the fact "no additional costs to the district for this school."
The new face at the gavel has reverted to singing the songs of yesteryear.

For those "arm chair" board members-here's your opportunity

Condensed from the district press release:

Residents of East Aurora School District 131 who interested in running for a seat on the East Aurora Board of Education can begin the process next week.

Nominating Petitions will be available beginning on 9/21/2010 and can be obtained at the School Service Center @ 417 5th Street in Aurora.

The next election for the East Aurora Board of Education will be held on 4/5/2011.

Nominating Petitions of School Board Candidates must be filed at the School Service Center no earlier than 12/13/2010 at 7:30am and no later than 12/20/2010 at 5pm

For more info you may contact:

Lisa Morales Executive Assistant / School Board Election Official

630.299.5554 ● lmorales@d131.org

Suggested link from previous post: A Tale of Three School Districts

A Tale of Three School Districts
Once upon a time there were three school districts, two of the districts were right next to each other and one was a few miles away and they were all informed that they could get new federal funding to help them retain teachers.

But once the school districts got to see the numbers they got three very different stories. The three districts were the Aurora East, Oswego and Yorkville school districts, all were consolidated districts so they taught K-12. The federal funding numbers come from the Beacon News.

But lets look at some of the numbers. First the amount that the new funding will provide to each district.


Oswego 308 $2,900,000
East Aurora $6,500,000
Yorkville $211,222

Ok, you may think that seems logical the Aurora East district has to be bigger than the Oswego and Yorkville districts... Well not really.

(Financial numbers and student numbers come from the Interactive Illinois School Report Card at NIU)

Well how many students does each district have?
Oswego 15,002
Aurora E 12,767
Yorkville 5,054

So new federal money per student
Oswego $193
Aurora E $509
Yorkville $41

New federal money as a % of instructional expenditure per student the amount in () is the instructional expenditure per student

Oswego ($4,763) about 4%
Aurora E ($4,827) about 11%
Yorkville ($4,477) so about 1%

That's right Aurora East will get about 11% of what they spend on each student in instructional expenses and Yorkville gets about 1%.

Another way to think about it, about 2 netbooks (inexpensive laptops) per student in Aurora East vs. a textbook for each student in the Yorkville district.

Well this is supposed to pay to rehire teachers, so using the average teacher salary and multiplying by 1.5 (to include benefits) how many teachers will each district be able to re-hire/add.

Number of teachers the money would pay for...
Oswego 32
Aurora 81
Yorkville 3

The Oswego district has 20 schools ( so a bit less than 1.5 teachers per school) the Aurora district has 16 schools (so over 4 teachers per school), Yorkville has 9 schools so about a 1/3rd of a teacher for each school.


So it seems that Aurora East is getting a much better deal out of this than Oswego and Yorkville is really getting the short end of the stick.

In some ways it is even worse because of Quinn's transportation cuts will impact Oswego and Yorkville more the Aurora East district. The Aurora East district does not bus so it has a much lower transportation cost per student than the other two and it appears you can not use the federal money for transportation.

— OneMan

“First they came..."

The origins of this poem have been traced to a speech given by Pastor Niemöller in 1946. Since then, the contents have often been altered to produce numerous variations. My alteration- represents the effects as it continues to be done “their” way?

First they came after the gifted program
and we did not speak out, afterall our children were not gifted.

Then they came after the fine arts programs
and we did not speak out, our children were not artists.

Then they came after the sports programs
and we did not speak out, our children were not athletes.

They have failed our children.
Is there anyone left who will speak out for them?

There is an opportunity twice a month.
Board meeting August 16, @ 7:00 PM

A District on behalf of it's children

School District 129 has filed a brief opposing a motion for dismissal in a court case that challenges the constitutionality of Illinois’ education funding system.
The lawsuit contends that the State has abandoned local control of schools in favor of centralized decision-making by the ISBE. Because of this, the unequal tax burdens on property-poor school districts caused by the state education funding system violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution of the State of IL.
The defendants contend the existing system serves the goal of promoting “local control” over decision making. They are seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed in advance of any fact discovery.
The brief argues that preservation of local control of education can no longer be a rational basis for the State’s educational funding system since the state has stripped districts of local control by imposing State-mandated Learning Standards and numerous additional State mandates.
D129 Supt. Rydland explained at the Aug Board meeting “Since the state is responsible to see that there is a quality, foundational education for all students, it also has an obligation to fund education,” Rydland said. “However, because the state funding formula relies more heavily on local funding sources, the discrepancy between the property-rich districts and property-poor districts continues to grow.”
(this is an abbreviated version of an announcement sent thru D129 parentsnews emails)