Dist. 207 board not worthy of your trust

As a former member of the Maine Township High School school board for almost 12 years and president for three years, I would like to go on record as opposed to the referendum.

Vast sums of taxpayer money are squandered. The supposed "tax caps" enacted by the Illinois legislature have become floors. During my last few years on the board, I opposed methodical, rote tax hikes designed to maximize tax revenue under the caps without regard to need, and almost invariably was a minority of one in doing so.

My efforts to pass tax rebates were voted down (the reasons for increasing taxes and then rebating a portion thereof are complex, related to the above-mentioned "tax cap" legislation). I am embarrassed to say that at the end of my terms, our district had the highest paid educational staff of any and all of the 900 or so districts/high schools in Illinois.

I believe the proposal to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on unneeded physical improvements is an attempt to create a personal legacy, which is utterly divorced from actual need. When I was president, I spearheaded a comprehensive review of the physical conditions of the three schools which utterly belies the current proposals for more taxpayer money.

And please, please don't believe that the cost will be "only" $350 per household per year. That is an average, based no doubt on fuzzy math, and is not what most people will really owe, if the past is prologue.

I urge voters to vote "no" on the proposed referendum. And, voters next April should take a close look at the board members who have routinely approved unnecessary tax increases that make District 207 teachers the highest paid of almost 900 districts/schools in Illinois.

Ed Mueller

Park Ridge