John O'Neill: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: McHenryWebsite: http://www.votemchenry.comOffice sought: McHenry District 15 School Board (2-year Term)Age: 46Family: Married to Basia, seven childrenOccupation: SalesEducation: Candidate did not respond.Civic involvement: McHenry Chamber of Commerce Knights of Columbus Boy Scouts Sunday School Teacher and Music Ministry at The Church of Holy ApostlesElected offices held: McHenry School District #15 Board of Education, 2007-Present McHenry Public Library District Board of Trustees, 2009-PresentHave you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: NeverCandidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 Maintain our high standard of education success in District 15 and make improvements where we can.Key Issue 2 Live-up to our long-standing tradition of conservative fiscal responsibility with the hard-earned tax dollars entrusted to us by the taxpayers of District 15.Key Issue 3 Lobby the state legislature to reform school funding. PTELL, or the inappropriately named, "Tax-Cap Law" has created the need for taxing bodies to 'cast their nets' far and wide when calculating the levy needed to fund their budgets. It is easy for the arm-chair quarterback to wonder why taxing bodies cannot simply cut spending or cut taxes, or at least hold the line without an increase. The whole process in so convoluted it just about takes a Doctorate-level education in economics to understand the laws and loopholes but suffice it to say that without the annual tax levy increases, newly built structures would be taxed at a disproportionately lower amount than existing homes and buildings. I would like to see a plan where education funding is separated from property taxes all together. It would take some heavy lifting but we would 'clean-up' school district boundaries statewide and align them with county boundary lines; in some, more rural areas we may need to work with a consortium of lesser-populated counties. With the elimination of school districts as line-items on our property tax bills (District 15 is receiving more than $2000.00 from the O'Neill household plus $1000.00 to District 156 and we educate our children at home!) we would then start the budget process for each school district in the county at ZERO - $0.00. Each district then builds a budget based on what they need; notice the intentional use of the word, "need" not want. Once each district has built their budgets we can determine an appropriate county-wide sales tax amount necessary to cover the needs of all districts combined. In talking with some folks about my idea of a sales tax based formula for school funding, it has been suggested that we eliminate the alignment of districts by county and just have the state administer the collection and disbursement of tax dollars. I would prefer to have the counties disburse the money rather than the state which has already proven itself to be completely irresponsible with the hard-earned tax dollars of Illinois residents.Questions Answers What do you think about the shift to the common core standards? How big a role do you think the board of education should play in setting the curriculum for students and what ideas do you have for changes to the current curriculum?Improvements to curriculum can be very beneficial. Unfortunately when State or Federal governments begin deciding what should or should not be taught the children get lost in the minutiae of the program and political grandstanding of the stakeholders who feel the need to protect their own salaries or re-election prospects. I think the board should play an 'advise and consent' role at most, relying on the superintendent and their staff to develop and implement curriculum. School Boards should not play the role of micro-managers rather we should conduct ourselves as overseers ensuring that the children receive the best education possible while the district, "lives within its means."How satisfied are you that your district is preparing students for the next stage in their lives, whether it be from elementary into high school or high school into college or full-time employment? What changes, if any, do you think need to be made?District 15 is doing a great job preparing our children for High School and beyond. Certainly we have our challenges but we have made great strides. For example, our children in the ESL community are becoming more proficient and assimilating into the English speaking culture as well as our recent consolidation of more of our Special Education programming in-house in order to better tailor them to the needs of our neediest children.What budget issues will your district have to confront and what measures do you support to address them? If you believe cuts are necessary, what programs and expenses should be reduced or eliminated? On the income side, do you support any tax increases?Due to the very conservative and fiscally responsible stewardship of the tax dollars entrusted to us by the taxpayers of District 15, I do not anticipate any budget issues for perhaps the rest of this decade. As for tax increases, I have never been one to support a tax increase and typically any vote to raise taxes ends-up being a 6-1 vote with the symbolic "No" vote being mine.As contract talks come up with various school employee groups, do you believe the district should ask for concessions from its employees, expect employee costs to stay about the same as they are now or provide increases in pay or benefits?We had our contracts with the certified and non-certified unions wrapped-up in the Spring of 2012. The board helped the unions realize that we are in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression. With many taxpayers stuck in unemployment or underemployment, losing the jobs they have, facing pay cuts, or at best having their salaries flat lined while their property taxes continue to climb along with the price of gas, food, and just about everything else imaginable, there is not much extra to go around. We worked with the unions and our staff in order to come up with an equitable package with included some give-backs and a very modest increase.If your district had a superintendent or other administrator nearing retirement, would you support a substantial increase in his or her pay to help boost pension benefits? Why or why not?Are you kidding me? It's that sort of thinking which has helped the once-great State of Illinois sink to the bottom of the cesspool. These administrators, typically very good at what they do are already earning six-figures for the work that they do. Why are we going to bestow a hefty salary increase upon them and bump their retirement into the stratosphere? Does that happen in the real-world of private sector business? Of course not, the stockholders would go ballistic because they know they would be stuck paying the bill in lower dividends and a lower stock price overall. My question is: Why is this type of thinking so pervasive in Education specifically and the entire Public Sector in general?