Quit trying to force us to pay for Chicago's schools

In his June 3 Opinion article, the head of the "Center for Tax and Budget Accountability" (hold on to your wallet) tells us that he thinks that the way the state doles out money to pay for schools is all wrong. (How many times have we heard that before?)

But he has the answer saying, "How about a formula based on the cost of what the research shows works to, you know, educate kids?"

Since the state is broke and can't pay its bills, and since the legislature is incapable of putting together a balanced budget, and since the state takes the money from you and me and then doles it out in a way that makes no one happy but is surely controlled by the Democrats in Chicago for Chicago's benefit, I've got a better idea. How about if the state gets out of the "taking our money business" and the "doling out our money business" and the "screwing it up in the process business"?

Then we can keep our own money and we can decide locally how much we want to pay to educate our kids without depending on the Chicago Democrats to tell us what to do. If you want to spend the money to give your kids a first-rate education, if you want to give your school administrators a sweeter retirement deal than you will ever see, then tax yourselves accordingly or build a big industrial tax base in your town or bring in lots of stores and tax them or figure out something else.

If you don't want to spend that much, then save your money for whatever you think is more important than educating your kids. But don't expect me to take money away from my kids and give it to you to spend on your kids.

Or if you insist that the bankrupt state should contribute something, I've got another idea. Just give the same amount for each student. Simple, fair, and we won't have the Chicago Democrats stealing money from the suburbs and down state to pay for their mistakes.

Why is it that whenever some "expert" tells us how to pay for "our" schools it always winds up with us paying for "their" schools?

Rich Schwanbeck

Elk Grove Village