District 204 says signs served their purpose

The signs were up for less than a week but Indian Prairie school officials say that's all they needed.

Beginning last Friday every sign at each of the unit district's 33 schools told anyone who passed that "The state of Illinois owes District 204 $7.8 million."

By Thursday morning, Superintendent Kathryn Birkett decided it was time to take them down.

"We asked (principals) to add the message because we wanted to raise awareness about how state funding has impacted our budget. I think our community has stepped up and now has a better understanding of the situation," Birkett said. "It's time to turn the signs back over to the schools so they can communicate with parents about school events and celebrate student successes."

School board President Curt Bradshaw said he hopes the heightened awareness continues.

"The state's budget crisis really has been a long-progression of shifting the burden and a lot of people were not aware how bad it was," he said. "Hopefully now, with an informed community, we will see some change."

The $7.8 million was due to the district by the end of the 2009 calendar year. Officials believe the state's $13 billion debt will force the legislature to further reduce payments to individual school districts.

For Indian Prairie, the estimated $500 to $700 reduction per student will result in $14 million to $20 million in additional budget cuts, which Birkett said likely will result in program cuts and the release of some nontenured teachers in the district.

For some parents who believed the signs targeted the wrong audience or were inappropriate, their removal couldn't come soon enough.

Dave Schur, a parent of two students at White Eagle Elementary and two at Still Middle School, said he asked administrators to remove the signs soon after they went up.

"I didn't think they were targeting who they should be targeting because the kids don't get it and not every parent is at every school every day to see them," Schur said. "Instead the children had to start their day with a negative message that they don't really understand and the teachers, especially the many nontenured ones, were constantly reminded of their jobs that are in jeopardy if the funding never comes. I just didn't think it was appropriate from either aspect."

Both Birkett and Bradshaw confirmed hearing from "a few" people who did not approve of the signs for similar reasons but insisted that was not the reason they are coming down.

"In a community of 120,000, there will always be some that saw signs for more than what they were," Bradshaw said. "But they were put up purely to raise awareness so the public could make informed decisions in the future."

State representatives who serve the district - which covers portions of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield - said they heard the message loud and clear but insisted the state does not have the money to pay District 204 or any other district.