Joe Stevens: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Joe Stevens

City: Pingree Grove

Office sought: District 300 School Board Member

Age: 73

Family: Spouse Trish, 3 children, 5 grandchildren

Occupation: Private Consulting Firm, Nine Rivers Enterprises

Education: MBA Lake Forest Graduate School of Business

Civic involvement: Former Chair of Greater Elgin Family Care and Former Treasurer of Family Services of McHenry County, Extraordinary Minister of Care, St. Catherine of Siena Church

Previous elected offices held: School Board Member

Incumbent: If yes, when were first elected? Yes, 2006

Website: No

Facebook: No

Twitter: No

Issue questions

What are the most important issues facing your district and how do you intend to address them?

The most important issue is the fluctuating levels of state funding and never knowing if you'll get funded or not. My position is to reserve as much as possible without hurting current students and their education and be extremely prudent in your spending.

How satisfied are you that your school district is adequately 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?

Our district is doing very well in this area providing pathway programs directed to those who may not wish or be able to attend college. For example, HHS recently graduated the first two certified welders in the State of Illinois from High School, able to walk into a high paying job as a result. Not every student needs or wants to go to college. We provide for those students as well as those that do.

What budgetary issues will your district have to confront during the next four years and what measures do you support to address them? If you believe cuts are necessary, be specific about programs and expenses that should be considered for reduction or elimination. On the income side, do you support any tax increases? Be specific.

I do NOT support any request for a tax increase. Our property taxes are way to high and support much more of the schools than appropriate. Change must come on the state and federal levels. I cannot think of a program I would like to cut, but would certainly be prudent if put in the position of it being necessary. Also, we much be very prudent in adding any expense.

Are you currently employed by or retired from a school district, if so, which one? Is any member of your direct family - spouse, child or child-in-law - employed by the school district where you are seeking a school board seat?

No. I am not employed by the school district and none of my family are either.

As contract talks come up with various school employee groups - teachers, support staff, etc. - what posture should the school board take? Do you believe the district should ask for concessions from its employees, expect employee costs to stay about the same as they are now or provide increases in pay or benefits?

You always must stay competitive with surrounding school districts in order to hire good teachers at competitive salaries. Regarding Benefits, I wish the public sector more appropriately reflected the private sector but that would be groundbreaking and I do not expect to see that in my future term if elected.

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?

Absolutely not, and in fact, when I was President of the board we denied the outgoing superintendent such a package. That was groundbreaking and I believe it had never been done before.