Warren High board candidates address declining enrollment

The potential financial ramifications from declining enrollment at Gurnee-based Warren Township High School is one of the issues candidates for the school board likely will face if elected April 4.

Warren District 121 voters will select from six candidates seeking four 4-year terms. Four incumbents - John Anderson, Liz Biondi, Catherine Campbell and Jim Walz - are competing with political newcomers Paul Schulz and Jonita Wilson.

All of the candidates except Campbell have addressed District 121 issues in Daily Herald questionnaires and in editorial board interviews.

Anderson, 64, of Gurnee, said school board members and administrators, in conjunction with Warren teachers union representatives, have been preparing for the drop-off. Warren had 4,267 students for 2015-16, compared to 4,359 in the previous academic year, according to the Illinois State Board of Education.

"Warren ... has a slowly declining enrollment, which will reduce the amount of state aid, which will require a reduction in the total number of teachers," said Anderson, president of TPA Sales.

Schulz said he would use his skills in budget forecasting to help the school board prepare for the likely continuation of enrollment declines and the effect on funding. He's a Gurnee resident who is vice president of finance and chief financial officer for ViskoTeepak LLC.

"I don't want education to suffer just because enrollment numbers drop," Schulz said.

Biondi, 69, a retired Gurnee resident, said the Warren district as a whole is aging. Cuts affecting classrooms and teachers should not occur before all other expenditures have been explored and reductions made, she said.

"I think we have to be looking at what we need," said Biondi, who was elected to her first 4-year term in 2013.

Wilson, a Beach Park human resources professional, said Warren has strong reserves that could help if money becomes a problem.

"I feel like we have a pretty good grasp of the budget and managing the budget," she said.

Walz, 54, is a sales representative from Gurnee who was elected to the Warren board in 2013. He ran as a Democrat in an unsuccessful effort to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren last November.

Addressing the downward enrollment trend, he said the budget for employees can be reduced through attrition.

"At present, Warren Township High School is on sound fiscal ground," Walz said. "We continually seek ways to save money for those that we represent, as it is our fiduciary responsibility to the community."