Finances dominate Barrington District 220 candidates forum

Be it questions over class size, an elected official’s time commitment or the district’s strategic plan, the conversation usually came back to finances at a Friday morning forum featuring all five candidates running for the Barrington Unit District 220 school board.

The PTO Presidents’ Council put on the two-hour question-and-answer session before about 100 people at the Barrington Area Library.

When asked their position on reopening the teachers union contract, a slate of political newcomers Tom Antoine, Richard Burkhart and Jim Mayer took a somewhat firmer line than Joe Ruffolo and incumbent Brian Battle.

“I’m 100 percent for it,” said Mayer, a commodities trader and the only write-in candidate. “I think it’s necessary, I think it’s unavoidable, it’s inescapable. There’s no way around it.”

Though the Barrington Education Association recently declined the board’s invitation to discuss reopening the contract, which expires Aug. 31, 2012, Burkhart said District 220 will soon face deficit spending and has to reach a contract that’s fair for everyone.

“We’re looking for a sustainable outcome ... we need to be able to manage through the good and the bad times,” said Burkhart, a retired executive from Oracle Corp.

Antoine, a construction manager and real estate attorney, said teacher salaries and benefits constitute 75 percent of the district’s budget.

He believes the board is constrained by the contract but must find a way to always protect core subjects, Advanced Placement classes and other programs most necessary to student advancement.

“We’re basically sacrificing three-quarters of the budget without any flexibility there,” he said. “I think that’s a problem and does not show cooperation for the situation we’re in today.”

Joe Ruffolo, who teaches physics in Leyden Township High School District 212, said the district needs to live within its means, but that the focus should be on a less lucrative teachers contract in the future since the union declined to reopen the current deal.

He disagreed there should be a major overhaul of teacher compensation to incorporate student performance-based pay, saying it could create turmoil within the district.

“I’ve studied education for a long time, and making sweeping and radical changes has proved multiple times not to be effective,” he said.

Battle, who has served on the board since 2003, said the district no longer benefits from revenue generated from new growth, and that the ability to support step increases for teachers is more difficult.

Since the district’s financial outlook has changed since the contract was signed in late 2009, it’s appropriate to discuss a renegotiation, he said.

“But you do it as a partnership. You do it not in an antagonistic way,” Battle said.