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Maine 207 candidates talk state budget woes, high teacher salaries

Maine Township District 207 school board candidates agreed the state's budget impasse and education funding proposals in Springfield could soon force the district to make difficult decisions.

Five candidates are seeking four 4-year terms on the school board: incumbent board President Carla Owen and member Jin Lee and potential newcomers Linda Coyle of Park Ridge, Dan Gott of Des Plaines and Aurora Austriaco of Park Ridge.

With the contract for the teachers, who are among the suburbs' highest-paid, expiring in 2020 and needed capital improvement plans for the district's three high schools, the next four years could be consequential.

"Definitely, we will be facing our biggest challenge, not only in our district but all over the nation," said Lee, a Des Plaines resident and a director for the social service agency Albany Park Community Center. He suggested the district pursue more fundraising with alumni from each high school to boost funding through potentially slim years.

Coyle, a Park Ridge attorney, sought to differentiate herself from the incumbents as someone who's adamantly opposed to tax increases.

"I am very much in favor of fiscal responsibility to the nth degree," Coyle said, though she believes current board members have been responsible.

Owen, an attorney and Park Ridge resident, said she's concerned about possible funding cuts because the district has already been operating leanly.

"I don't think there's programs out there that are expendable," Owen said. "I'm worried about that."

Austriaco, an attorney and Park Ridge resident who ran as a Democrat for state representative in 2008, said she would analyze line items in the budget to determine where cuts could be made.

"I would expect that if we are paying our teachers well, we would want an outcome commensurate with what they are being paid," Austriaco said.

In 2010, the district laid off more than 130 employees, including 75 teachers. As required by a labor agreement, the teachers who were let go had lower seniority and were paid less. Now the average teacher salary in District 207 is $110,929 compared to the state average of $63,453.

Gott is a retired Des Plaines resident who ran as a Republican for state representative in 2016. He did not specify places to cut the budget in a Daily Herald questionnaire, though he did point out teacher salaries.

"High School District 207 employs the highest paid teachers in Illinois," he wrote. "We need a balanced budget, which supports existing and new academic and extracurricular programs."

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