Mari-Lynn Peters: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: WheelingWebsite: Candidate did not respond.Office sought: Prospect Heights Elementary D23Age: 44Family: I have been married for 16 years and have two sons ages 12 and 9. I have lived in Wheeling for 18 years at the same residence.Occupation: Certified Public Accountant (CPA)Education: Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from Boston UniversityCivic involvement: Level 2 School Board Member of the Illinois Association of School BoardsNational School Boards Association National AffiliateSt. Alphonsus Parish, Prospect HeightsRoss/Sullivan PTO MacArthur Middle School PTOProspect Heights Instrumental League (PHIL)Slovene National Benefit Society (SNPJ)Parent Member/Committee Member of Boy Scout Troop 468, Arlington HeightsBrookfield Zoo MemberPreviously:Illinois CPA SocietyAmerican Institute of Certified Public AccountantsBetsy Ross School Improvement CommitteeAnne Sullivan School Improvement CommitteeBetsy Ross Room ParentElected offices held: Prospect Heights School District #23 Board of Education, 2007 - 2011 (Board of Education Secretary 2007 - 2009)Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: No.Candidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 My Number 1 issue in our district is to provide a top quality education to our students while ensuring that we have a balanced budget. This has become increasingly difficult to do with property tax collection rates falling from 98% to 94% in our district; with the elimination/reduction in some of the grants we receive; with the delayed payment of our monies due to us from the State of Illinois and the County of Cook; with significantly reduced consumer price indexes of .1% and 1.5%.Key Issue 2 My Number 2 issue in our district is to ensure that we maintain a reserve balance of at least 25%. Our Board of Education had to approve the issuance (if necessary) of Tax Anticipation Warrants in late 2010 in fear of not meeting December payroll nor our bond payment, due to the late collection of property taxes in the county and the extremely late payment of monies due from the State of Illinois. Ultimately, we barely made payroll and our bond payment without issuing the warrants, but, by keeping a reserve, we would not be living with the threat of having such significant cash flow issues and having the potential to incur interest and borrowing fees ($30,000) to run the district while we wait for our money to be remitted to us.Key Issue 3 My Number 3 issue in our district is to ensure a smooth transition to grade level centers for our students, parents and staff beginning in the 2011 - 2012 school year. Our Board of Education recently, unanimously voted to reconfigure the school district to this format in order to save $300,000 - $400,000 per year; smooth out class sizes within each grade of the district; encourage greater collaboration among teachers at each grade level; enable a larger peer group for social activities; improve consistency in curriculum at each grade; provide gifted services to more children in the district; looping among grades could be re-established.Questions Answers How satisfied are you that your district is preparing students for the next stage in their lives, whether it be from elementary into high school or high school into college or full-time employment? What changes, if any, do you think need to be made?As a current Board of Education Member, I am extremely satisfied with the way Prospect Heights School District #23 is preparing students for whatever endeavors they eventually seek. ""Our high academic expectations for all students, rigorous and relevant curriculum, and personalized support are the key components of a great school district."" MacArthur Middle School was recently rated #18 by Chicago Magazine after they evaluated 1,700 schools in the Chicago area. No other school that feeds into District #214 was evaluated so highly. Additionally, the district has consecutively been rated in the top 5 by the Daily Herald in the northwest suburbs based upon test scores of students on the ISATS. The schools of the district consistently receive the SchoolSearch Bright Red Apple Award of excellence, as well. The district also received the 2009 Academic Excellence Award. Additionally, all of the schools in the district conduct wonderful community service activities, whether they benefit the immediate community or people in places as far away as in Sri Lanka. Community service projects go a long way in preparing our students for the next stages of their lives. One change I would make to our current instruction would be to increase the number of students that we offer gifted services to. This will begin to be achieved when we reconfigure to grade level centers next year and begin to offer such services to an increased number of students. Additionally, we have expanded the number of students that we provide foreign language to and we have expanded the program to include 2 years of instruction versus the previous 1 1/2 year program. This should better prepare our students for foreign language classes when they get to high school. I would also like to someday be able to reinstate the home-ec and summer school programs. Sadly, these programs have fallen victim to our financial cut-backs needed to balance our budget.Quoted from Prospect Heights School District #23 ""Grade Level Reconfiguration Social Emotional, Curriculum Miscellaneous"" report dated December 8, 2010.What budget issues will the district have to confront? What measures do you support to address them? If cuts are needed, be specific about programs and expenses that should be reduced or eliminated. Do you support any tax increases for local schools?The district began facing budget issues in 2009 when we projected running out of funds and being unable to make payroll sometime in late 2010. At that time we initiated a program called ""Cut a Million."" We had 5 different focus groups created which included residents of the district, union members of the district, principals and administrators to each come up with their list of $1,000,000 of cuts to make. All reasonable ideas were considered by the Board of Education and $1,200,000 in budget cuts and increased/new fees were approved. 2010 found the district with more budget issues as property tax collection rates fell from 98% to 94% in our district; some of our grants were eliminated/reduced; collection of our monies due to us from the State of Illinois and the County of Cook were significantly delayed; consumer price indexes continued to be below the previous average of 2%. As a result, our cash flow projections now showed a new $1,500,000 deficit with us not making payroll in December 2010, nor our December 2010 bond payment. We went back over the remaining proposed list of ""Cut a Million"" ideas and continued researching those ideas that had been classified as long term: grade level centers; consolidation of Ross/Sullivan; increased class sizes. Additional cost savings and increased/new rates and fees were also evaluated. The Board of Education is currently working with a list of $1,600,000 in budgetary cuts and increased/new rates for the 2011 - 2012 school year. These presently include: grade level centers; reduction in administrative support; reduction of full-day kindergarten aides; reduction in library aides; reduction in days worked by aides; reduction in website stipends; reduction in tuition reimbursement; postponing of textbook adoption; reduction in textbook replacement; elimination of the sub-caller position; take PE back from NSSEO; reduction in consulting fees; reduction in retirement incentives; TRS/THIS reduction; reduction of special education services needed (based upon expected enrollment); reduction in network services; reduction in micro-processing; reduction in building capital outlay; reduction in accelerated reader program; reduction of library materials; reduction of board professional/superintendent/business office fees; reduction in PE equipment; reduction of gifted program materials; reduction of social work and speech general supplies; reduction in utilities and reduction of health insurance benefits. Increased or new fees will touch upon: interscholastic; extracurricular; band; orchestra; chorus; technology. We will also be enrolling in the National School Lunch Program. The Board of Education has also voted to allow a referendum to be placed on the April ballot.Is experience as a teacher or support from a union valuable because it suggests educational insights or detrimental because it creates pro-teacher bias? Please clarify whether you have such experience or would accept union support.I do not have experience as a certified teacher, however, I have taught numerous accounting, auditing and inventory courses previously. The experience a teacher can offer from the classroom or support from a union is very valuable. As stated earlier, one entire focus group for our ""Cut-a-Million"" budget reduction process was made up of a dozen union teachers from our school district. We sought after and valued their opinions. Additionally, when we look to purchase new textbooks for the district we develop a team to do the research and it always includes union staff. We also have union staff on our gifted committee; they serve on school improvement committees; they have helped to select new playground equipment; they serve on our PTO's; they have assisted in our research for transition to grade level centers. Their support and educational insights are very valuable and we share a common goal of wanting to provide the best education possible for the children of our district.As contract talks come up with various employee groups, what posture should the board take? Do you believe the district should ask for concessions, expect employee costs to stay about the same as they are now or provide increases in pay or benefits?Our district has just had interest based bargaining training for applicable board members and staff. We have not yet discussed what each sides' interests are. However, we have very publicly posted the cost savings that we are hoping to achieve for the district during the 2011 - 2012 school year. These include: fewer work days for aides; reduction of web-site stipends; reduction in tuition reimbursement; elimination of the sub-caller position; reduction in health insurance benefits; no raises or step increases for anyone in the district, except for the janitorial union, which is in the middle of a contract cycle.If your district had a superintendent or other administrator nearing retirement, would you support a substantial increase in his or her pay to help boost pension benefits? Why or why not?We do have a superintendent nearing retirement and I would not support an increase in his next year's salary. As stated above, we are hoping to freeze all salaries of the district, except for the janitorial union, which is in the middle of a contract cycle. Supporting a substantial increase in anyone's pay to help boost pension benefits is fiscally irresponsible. If an employee has performed adequately over the years, that should already be reflected in their salary at retirement without artificially inflating it just to provide a greater pension benefit. Part of the reason the State of Illinois is in such bad financial shape is due to un/under funded pension plans with nowhere to get the money from to pay people their promised pensions. Bulking up on final years of salaries before retirement is unacceptable. If a person is that valuable, the district should have been paying the person more over the life of that person's career, not just for the last few years of their employment.