Not sold on need for school sales tax

Some Cook County residents are lathered about a 1 percentage point sales-tax increase to pay for county services, predicting people will jump across the borders to buy cheaper in other counties.

But the collar counties now have the opportunity to hop onto their own sales-tax bandwagon. A state law quietly passed last fall allows county boards to put up a referendum on a sales tax increase for school construction and renovation.

The sales tax increase, up to 1 percentage point, also could be forced onto the ballot if school boards representing the majority of the county's students formally request a referendum.

If voters approved, sales tax money would be given to the county's schools based on the number of students. The law doesn't apply to Cook County.

Modeled after an Iowa program, the new school funding source is winning support in Lake County. Two of the largest districts, Waukegan Unit District 60 and Woodland Elementary District 50 in Gurnee and Gages Lake, voted to ask for the referendum, as did Millburn Elementary District 24 in Wadsworth and Lindenhurst. Together, they represent nearly 19 percent of the county's students. Other school districts have a vote on the agenda.

And no wonder -- at issue is a brand-new school funding source.

But it is one we cannot support.

For one, with everyone going to the sales-tax well -- most recently the state legislature's mass transit bailout hiked sales taxes in Lake County and the other collar counties -- it's time to cap that source, particularly in this troubled economy.

While we sympathize with school boards tired of begging for property tax increases, we believe voters deserve to hear a clear and compelling justification each time schools need major improvements -- and that suburban voters often support well-made cases.

The story might be different downstate, where Williamson County became the first last month to win voter approval of a 1-percentage-point sales tax increase for school improvements.

But this should be a wake-up call to the governor and state lawmakers to take more responsibility for schools. They can start by firming up funding of the state school construction grant program so that fast-growing school districts and those with deteriorated buildings have access to these funds. They have an opportunity to do so through approval of a capital improvement bill that would provide $4.9 billion for school construction.

Of course, a new sales tax hike in the collar counties might keep Cook County residents from feeling so bad. But that's not a good enough reason to join them.