Rivals debate school funding
From consolidating school districts to keeping the current system, candidates for state representative in the 48th district each have their own ideas on funding education.
Three Republicans -- Naperville Councilman Doug Krause, DuPage County Board member Michael Connelly and College of DuPage Trustee Dave Carlin -- are running in the Feb. 5 primary for a spot on the November ballot to replace retiring state Rep. Jim Meyer.
The district includes portions of Naperville, Lisle, Wheaton, Woodridge and Bolingbrook.
For years legislators have been in disagreement over how much money should be put toward education and where that money should come from. The current system relies heavily on property taxes.
Krause said the state could save money by consolidating its more than 850 school districts to lessen duplication. Some school districts currently have only two or three schools in them, while others have 20 or more schools ranging from elementary through high school.
"The consolidation of that and putting the administration under one would be a tremendous savings, which you could reinvest back into buildings and educational programs as well as materials," Krause said.
Carlin agrees the state should look at consolidating school districts, and he's cautiously open to proposals that call for lowering property taxes while raising income taxes and expanding the sales tax to include services. However, he said he couldn't support such a plan if there weren't a safeguard to ensure property taxes wouldn't go right back up.
He said the state should be putting in its share for education.
"We have some of the best public schools in the state and in the nation, and if we ignore the needs of those schools, down the road we're not going to say they're some of the best," he said. "I will be open to finding ways to more properly fund education."
Connelly, meanwhile, also isn't happy with his property tax bill, but he doesn't favor any changes in the way education is funded.
"To think my income tax is going to Springfield and … it's going to come back to Naperville, I'm reluctant to do that," he said. "I believe in local control of education, and it may not be the best system right now but I'm happy with it the way we fund it. I know where the money is going, and it stays in town."