Don't buy into D303 tax increase

Management by Objectives from the 1950s became the failed mother of the "team approach" used in organizations today. Everyone wins and no one takes responsibility for the outcome.

District 303 Superintendent Don Schlomann has adapted the process to curry favor with stakeholders for a massive tax increase he plans to renovate school buildings. Homeowners would see a hike of 6 percent in their property tax bill.

MBO manipulates those who "carry the load" into seeing "the big picture" thereby creating "buy in" and "ownership." Whew! We get a lot for those big salaries. I say, "Don, we can't afford an increase during these depression conditions."

April is right around the corner and the buzz Schlomann wants to create is community support for a fat tax increase. No so fast. What we do know is what voters have repeatedly said, "No new taxes." Listen up, 303! Understand that those "no votes" are still out there, and no amount of "spin" is going to get us to pay more taxes.

Not so long ago, this same District 303 said they needed money for new schools because class size was getting to be a problem. Today, class size is off the table and the new mantra is "rebuild our sagging infrastructure." Last time, it was $86 million; now - $300 million? I think we saw this movie before: "Give us the money and we will spend it."

There is a need for repairs to schools and it may be most efficient to rebuild rather than patch old buildings. What I am convinced of, however, is that our school system must be funded from sources other than property taxes. Sadly I read nothing about any effort to find those sources. Short of that, I expect District 303 needs to tighten its belt and begin to pare down the costs of public education to match up to the resources from a mightily sagging real estate tax base.

Mark Anderson

St Charles