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)

Fair & Equitable?

While on the school board, information was shared with me by another board member.
She claimed the district was keeping the daycare within our buildings to give the appearance of buildings being more populated than they actually are. She also shared, though many repairs are needed in our buildings, there was a long range plan that was suddenly made short. This too was for appearances. If more money was budget for more repairs in the upcoming year rather than five year plan, the district could claim a financial hardship due to unforeseen expenses. All these “appearances” would be for the sake of avoiding a 4% raise to the teachers, which they surely could afford. The tactic would be to cry poor and threaten overcrowding classrooms.

Admittedly, this was hearsay. What do the teachers and community hear and have to say about negotiations and giving our teachers a fair wage and a work environment conducive to educating the children in 131? We have the potential. Do we have the leadership?

Wishing the EA band a safe and enjoyable experience

I am currently out of town and unable to read the 100's of comments that has shown up on the blog. I scanned through and see some sincere dialog going on. I appreciate that. I am creating this new post just to shorten the scrolling for ongoing dialog.
I hope the students are too busy in FL to post but look forward to their return and comments about their experiences.

Till later..................

Farewell, Mrs. Nadel, thanks for the memories!

"Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness." ~Maya Angelou

Lynne Nadel touched the lives of countless EA students. Many found "refuge" in her classroom. She went beyond the duties of her job as a choir director. Mrs. Nadel was an adviser and inspiration to her students. She listened to their woes, shared joy in their accomplishments. She will truly be missed.

Here's wishing Lynne the best in her new home and her next season of life!

Speaking of Board meetings

I know many people don't like the dead horse being beaten but I was curious, and felt like I hadn't gotten the end of the story. So I went to the Board meeting and commented.

"While sorting through papers I found an article. Aug 2006 the Beacon's “Our View” commented: Promises made should be promises kept. Referring to a promise of 8.3 acres of land to be donated to D131. One year later in July 2007 results were approx. 5 acres worth about $1 million.

Now, nearly 4 years later, I want to ask, have the improvements to connecting properties, sites & infrastructure been made? Since the agreement was reached in 2007 who has been paying the taxes, insurance and maintaining the property? What is the present appraised value?

I know recently the district compiled a list of property owned by the district and paid for either market analysis and/or defining the lines and amount of actual property in the districts possession. What is being done with all these properties, specifically the one that was used as a carrot to encourage voters to favor D131 plans and to justify demolishing the drive-in?"