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Money talk dominates Dist. 203 forum

Even when the topic wasn't about money, candidates vying for the four Naperville Unit District 203 school board seats seemed to find a way to remind voters they were tight with a buck.

Nine of the 10 candidates appeared at the Monday night forum presented by the Naperville Area Homeowners Confederation. Nancy Drapalik could not attend because of other commitments, confederation officials said.

During nearly two hours of questioning about issues facing the district, the candidates laid out their platforms on spending, saving, tax hikes, administrative salaries, union negotiations, campaign donations and the financial impact of garden plots versus athletic fields.

The bottom line to almost every response from the candidates seemed to be about the district's bottom line. None of the candidates said they'd support asking taxpayers for more money.

The forum featured incumbents Susan Crotty and Jackie Romberg, as well as challengers Merle Siefken, Dave Weeks, Patti Mathewson, Steve Deutsch, Lynn Hodak, Jim Dennison and Michael DelCiello.

When asked to grade the current school board's performance, the scores didn't slip below a B-minus. Weeks was the only candidate who refused to offer a grade, instead chastising the board for perceived financial missteps.

"I think it was an unforgivable act they made to extend the teachers' contract with 18 months left on it two-and-a-half weeks before the last election," he said. "The board's financial forecasting has been woeful."

All the candidates believe the board should investigate whether the district has too many administrative positions and consider reducing top positions as a way to cut costs.

"It's not top-heavy, it's redundant," Deutsch said. "There are a lot of common functions that could be refined to eliminate redundancies."

DelCiello said because the economy is in such poor shape, the board has a responsibility to investigate every possible scenario that could save the district money.

"We have to look at everything," he said. "It's all on the table this year."

The topic of governmental transparency even had the candidates focused on money as they debated whether the district's checkbook should be made available to online visitors. Most of the challengers said finances should be as open as possible, but others said it might be cumbersome and actually cost the district more to provide itemized details for every expenditure.

"There should be some standards for transparency," Romberg said. "Our budgets are pretty detailed and already available if you care to look at them."

Siefken believes the board should do the public's bidding when it comes to openness.

"Ownership is yours, so transparency shall be there," he said.

None of the candidates said they have accepted campaign donations from the teachers union or vendors who do business with the district. Even the candidates supported by the union said they won't accept money from them.

Mathewson said that, as a former teacher, she is worried people would just assume she's accepted money from the union even though she hasn't and wouldn't, "because perception is reality."

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