District 300 leaders: No new taxes for 2010-11

On Monday, the school board and public will get a first look at $6 million in proposed cuts to Community Unit District 300's 2010-11 budget.

On the table are likely to be a number of proposals that will be hard for families and teachers to swallow, among them staff cuts, furlough days and reductions to physical education.

But District 300 officials say one recommendation won't be on the table, at least this year: a tax increase.

Superintendent Ken Arndt said this week he will not recommend the district go to referendum in the 2010-11 or 2011-12 school years.

"We're determined not to ask for a referendum for at least the next two years," Arndt said. "The timing is not appropriate."

Voters last approved a tax increase in 2006 after a campaign that divided the community and contributed to a shake-up on the school board during the next election cycle.

Board President Joe Stevens, the sole incumbent to retain his board seat in 2007, forcefully backed Arndt's recommendation.

"I don't think there's a ghost's chance - we would do that," Stevens said. "Why would anybody want to go through that again?"

Still, District 300 leaders cautioned that they may not be able to avoid going to referendum if the state drastically cuts funding to schools.

"I don't want people to think we never have to go back to referendum," Arndt said. "That's not true. I don't want to mislead people."

District 300 parents welcomed Arndt's recommendation but expressed apprehension about the impending cuts.

"I would much rather see them be fiscally responsible than raising taxes," said Mary Lossau, a mother at Eastview Elementary School in Algonquin. But she added: "It depends on what they're cutting."

Although Arndt's recommendation covers the next two years, the decision will be out of his hands after the end of the 2010-11 school year, when he is set to retire.

The school board's 7:30 p.m. meeting will be held at the Carpentersville Middle School auditorium, next to the district's central office, at 100 Cleveland Ave., Carpentersville.

Cuts: Superintendent says no referendum for two years