Tax swap scheme hurts suburbs

Not surprisingly, the Illinois teachers union has endorsed Alexi Giannoulias over Mark Kirk for U.S. Senate, citing Giannoulias' support for the time-honored Democrat solution of throwing more money at underperforming schools.

Giannoulias favors raising our income taxes as part of a tax swap plan that would supposedly reduce property taxes and provide more equitable school funding. Although Democrats make emotional appeals to unquantifiable arguments like "fairness," the Illinois State Board of Education Report Card reveals that Chicago public schools, with nearly half of its students reading and writing below grade level, already spend over $1,000 more per pupil annually than one of Illinois' best districts, Naperville Unit District 203.

This tax swap scheme is nothing more than a move to grab funds from suburban school budgets and place them under the control of Chicago machine politicians like Giannoulias and his friends. This is not the kind of representation Illinois needs in the U.S. Senate.

Victoria Deppe

Naperville