Taxpayers fleeced by Dist. 203 contract

The outright winner in the new Naperville Unit District 203 teachers agreement was the teachers, with the taxpayers taking another tough beating.

School board members must deem themselves as economists, projecting an economy improvement by next year and thereafter, because salary increases are back by 2011. These are same educators who got 3.84 percent salary increases the last two years, while the private sector suffered salary freezes, layoffs, and on top of that, property tax increases.

This contract agreement took less than two weeks to become reality - because it basically gave the teachers union every thing they wanted. What's not to be giddy about if you're a District 203 educator? Can any one explain why anyone would automatically get a 6 percent salary increase the last four years they're employed? I asked the school board this question, and I got what I expected: silence.

There is no reason for this benefit and no one else gets this perk. This is governance at its worst. Naperville has become the new Greece, state of Illinois, where debt reigns, while federal, state and local officials sit with heads buried in the sand. Taxpayers, you just got fleeced big time. This will end within the next five years - debt will be so overwhelming that the system will collapse on its own.

Taxpayers, you are the boss; do not bail out this system when the debt burden becomes intolerable. It already hurts, and the District 203 school board turned the screws tighter.

Robert Melbye

Lisle