Opinion

Too much money in the bureaucracy

Posted October 30, 2007 11:00 pm

The Daily Herald is to be commended for its excellent series on school finances. Chapter four of the series reports the percentage of actual funding expended on instruction in the classroom; this is the main point of the series. It is the student education for which all of the programs, buildings and taxes serve, but as we learn from the Daily Herald, only 50 percent of our educational funds statewide is going into the classroom education for teachers, programs, sports, etc. Fifty percent is going to bureaucratic overhead, for an army of administrators and other expenditures unrelated to educating students.

The Republican Assembly of Lake County brought the 65% Solution to Illinois in 2006 when we worked with state Sen. Chris Lauzen, an Aurora Republican, and then-state Rep. Bob Churchill, a Grayslake Republican, to introduce two bills in the Illinois legislature.

In 2006, when first introduced, the 65% Solution would have added $906 million the first year and every year thereafter to help educate our students statewide. As the Daily Herald correctly reported, the 65% Solution would now produce an extra $1.1 billion for education every year, again with no tax increase. These are tax dollars being collected, being misallocated and will not add to any tax bills. This is money on the table, but we need political leadership to stand up to the bureaucrats and teachers union who prefer more money, but only money from higher property taxes and additional tax increase referendums.

I hope the Daily Herald continues its advocacy for the 65% Solution with a thorough dialogue with educators, property taxpayers, businessmen and legislators.

The RALC will renew its advocacy with our state representatives and senators, but as all of us realize, political leadership on both sides of the aisle is sadly lacking. The issue is really simple: Put more of our collected tax dollars in the classroom. Write or call your state legislator and ask that they support the 65% Solution.

Jack L. Martin

Executive Director

Republican Assembly

of Lake County

Libertyville

Article Comments

Article Categories
Aurora Communities Letters to the Editor Libertyville Opinion Wadsworth

Article Comments

Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.