Soapbox: To drive or not to drive

When the District 300 school board chose its new high school boundary plan, it gave seventh-graders and high schoolers the chance to stay at the schools they currently attend. But if they stay with their current school, they'll have to get there on their own. Sort of adds a whole new list of possibilities to a transportation system already notorious for its chaos. Would it really be that difficult to set a deadline for a decision by students, say March 1 or March 15 or April 1, and then design bus schedules that take those decisions into account?

You call this a rebate?

Don't members of Congress understand the definition of the word "rebate?" Apparently they don't, if you listen to proposals for an economic stimulus package that are now degenerating into very familiar special interest debates. "Rebates" are a return of monies already collected to the parties from which they were collected. Thus, you can't give "rebates" to people who didn't pay anything. You can give them handouts, but not "rebates." And somebody has to pay for both handouts and rebates, either in the form of cuts elsewhere, which no one has proposed, or more debt.

Don't rush to spend

Just because Kane County has a $1.1 million surplus in its budget, there's no need to spend it in a rush, especially given it must pay for two special elections in the 14th U.S. House District. One is being held Tuesday along with the primary election and probably won't add a lot of cost, but the special general election on March 8 represents an additional cost. Why not be sure those bills can be paid before buying a bunch of new vehicles, which has been proposed? Or even better, consider saving it for a real emergency? New vehicles ought to be bought as part of a long-term capital plan, not on a hit-or-miss basis.

Entertaining prospect

Just guessing, but we'd imagine the results of a consultant's survey of residents, employees, students, civic and business leaders regarding a new superintendent might be pretty entertaining, and likely to make the ears of Elgin School District U-46's school board burn a little. Between the overly generous contract it gave former Superintendent Connie Neale, her abrupt departure and lingering animosity over her redistricting plan, it's more than likely the consultants got an earful. Their survey report to the board on Feb. 19 is open to the public.

Geneva's good idea

Kudos to whoever came up with the idea of relocating Geneva's Harrison Street Elementary School students to the soon-to-be-vacant Coultrap Elementary School building when Harrison undergoes renovations. It's not a perfect solution about what to do with kids while a school is a construction zone, as parents and kids would have to drive all the way across town. But surely it is better than dealing with a parking and traffic mess during construction, not to mention trying to find rooms for displaced classes and maintaining a normal educational plan, and maybe getting the renovations done faster.

Lots of audacity

You've just got to love the audacity. Under Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Illinois is sinking in a financial morass he refuses to see. And the state tollway authority can't seem to figure out how to be sure it is actually nabbing the right people in going after toll scofflaws. Yet Blagojevich and the tollway apparently do have plenty of time, and at $15,000 a pop, plenty of money to put up new signs along I-355 that extol the wonders of the governor and the tollway. Is anybody really surprised?