Finance focus of Woodland forum

Finances dominated a Wednesday night forum with candidates running for a board seat at Gurnee-based Woodland Elementary District 50.

Six candidates are running for three 4-year terms. Incumbents Mark Vondracek and Terry Hall are joined on the April 5 ballot by newcomers Chris Schrantz, Vincent Juarez, Keith DeVore and Alex Attiah.

DeVore was the only candidate who didn’t attend Wednesday’s PTA-sponsored forum at Woodland Intermediate School in Gurnee. DeVore is a Gurnee resident who’s a research budget analyst for Lake County.

What the candidates would first seek in potential cuts was among the questions posed at the event moderated by Deerfield League of Women Voters member Rita Kirby.

Juarez, a golf professional from unincorporated Wildwood, said he’d pursue cuts such as wireless telephones, meetings, travel and business-related breakfasts and luncheons.

“All the cuts that do not affect the classroom,” Juarez said.

Hall, a certified public accountant from Gurnee, said elected officials do not solely determine what should be trimmed from the budget. She said input comes from Woodland’s administration, staffers and the community at large.

Vondracek, a physics teacher from Gurnee, said teacher staffing must be looked at first because of contracts that require notification of layoffs in March. He said the school board made at least $1 million in cuts that weren’t related to personnel before the 2010-11 academic year.

Schrantz, a vice president of finance and business services from Gurnee, said he would examine employee health benefits and explore the possibility of requiring them to contribute to individual plans that currently are 100 percent covered by taxpayers.

Attiah, a home broker from Gurnee, said he and Juarez, who are supporting each other in the election, read about 1,700 pages of Woodland’s general ledger and are knowledgeable about budget line items. He said he would pursue cuts not affecting education.

Candidates also were asked if District 50’s budget difficulties have been caused by a lack of revenue or poor spending habits. Vondracek and Schrantz said Woodland probably has had a combination of income and spending problems.

Attiah and Juarez each pointed to spending being the financial culprit, not a lack of revenue. Attiah cited Woodland’s budgets that grew from $52 million in revenue in 2002 to $72 million in 2010.

“We are not living within our means,” Attiah said.

Hall said some of District 50’s revenue problems have been caused by Prairie Corssing Charter School in Grayslake. Prairie Crossing is a choice school within the boundaries of District 50 and Fremont Elementary District 79.

Per-pupil general state aid follows Woodland children who attend the environmentally focused charter school.