Mark Rising: Candidate profile

Bio

Name: Mark Rising

City: Aurora

Office sought: Board of Education - Indian Prairie CUSD 204

Age: 50

Family: Married with 2 daughters. My oldest daughter started in D204 in preschool and graduated from D204 in 2016. My youngest daughter is currently a Freshman in D204 high school.

Occupation: Sales management and consulting

Education: Bachelor Degree in Marketing and Communications

Civic involvement: Previously have held multiple executive and chair positions in our elementary, middle and high school PTA's, previous Indian Prairie Parents Council Representative, Parent Diversity Advisory Council since 2007 (previous school liaison and school board rep), previous VP of Special Needs PTA, supporter of music and sports boosters, youth leader and mentor at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, recently applied to be a Board Member for KidsMatter, supporter of 360 Youth Services, regularly attend Naperville and Aurora City Council meetings as well as Planning Commission meetings, frequently communicate with our local elected officials and state legislators.

Previous elected offices held: Indian Prairie Board of Education 2011 to current

Incumbent? If yes, when were you first elected? Incumbent since 2011

Website: www.rising204.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.rising

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mark_rising

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

Finances - Illinois is underfunding D204 in excess of $60M/per year. Over the 8 years I have been on school board, D204 reduced significant debt and reduced our budget over $34M saving taxpayers millions in property tax. D204 has the lowest administrator rate and operating expenditures per pupil of our comparable districts. We accomplished this while installing A/C in elementary schools and technology for all students. Goal- balance our budget, live within our means, and explore ways to reduce our property tax burden.

Class Size - We need to lower class size. D204 has maintained class sizes since 2011. Reducing class size by 3 students across D204 would cost $16.7M. Goal- with declining enrollment, retaining current staff and budgeting D204 can chip away at reducing class size.

Security - D204 hired a Safety and Security Director, provided ALICE training, updated cameras in HS's, and upgraded classroom door locks. Goal- implement camera systems in all buildings and additional safety and security training.

Mental Health - Students are subject to depression, anxiety, and bullying. We must combat this by fostering a welcoming environment for all students. Goal- take a proactive approach in educating parents and students on these issues and spread awareness throughout our student population.

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?

I hear most often from parents on how well D204 prepared their student for college. In addition, D204 ensures the transition from elementary to middle or middle to high school is smooth both academically and emotionally.

D204 has implemented programs like Equal Opportunity Schools (EOS) and is currently implementing the Portrait of a Graduate program. EOS identifies HS students for honors and AP courses while giving them tools and techniques to be successful. Students that take at least one honors or AP course in HS are 20% more likely to graduate from college. Portrait of a Graduate, D204 partnered with local businesses, universities, community leaders, students, teachers and parents to identify key traits needed for a student to be successful post-graduation. D204 will be emphasizing these key traits throughout our schools.

Goal- Regarding our academic achievement gap there is opportunity to improve. D204 needs to continuously upgrade programs to help our struggling students academically and communicate this to our parents and community. D204 needs to expand engineering and trade skills courses to prepare students who are not college bound to take advantage of the significant shortage of trade skill workers and engineers in our country.

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 believe program cuts are necessary in D204. However, we do need to continuously identify financial efficiencies. I do not believe we need to raise taxes and can feel we can offset any potential levy increase through ongoing operational and debt reduction activities which will keep tax rates flat.

Goal- D204 recently allocated additional financial resources for the maintenance of our buildings, the majority of which are now past 20 years old. I will continue to advocate for any additional money we receive to be put towards our buildings and maintenance. I will also advocate for a portion of our operations and maintenance budget be allocated towards increased security in all of our buildings. While D204 is only at 79% of adequate funding from the State of Illinois I know we can accomplish these things without making cuts or increasing taxes.

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 have never been employed by D204 or any school district. No members of my current or extended family have been an employee of D204.

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?

Our next contracts for employee groups will not come due until 2022. I have been part of 3 contract negotiations in my tenure on school board. In each of those contract negotiations I have always advocated for concessions and D204 has received negotiated concessions from our employee groups. If I am re-elected I will be part of the next contract negotiations and will continue to advocate for fair concessions for our employee groups.

Goal- My philosophy in contract negotiations will always be to live within our means as a district and make sure any negotiated agreement is sustainable and allows us to continue balancing our budget throughout each year of the contract. In the years I have been part of negotiations D204 aligned raises to the consumer price index, or given slightly higher raises. We have to continue to pay our employees fairly and competitively as compared to our surrounding and comparable school districts or we will lose our teachers to our surrounding districts.

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?

In the near future D204 will be looking for and hiring a new superintendent. I will be part of that process should I be re-elected. I have never supported, and will not support, an end of career boost in pay to increase pension benefits for any D204 superintendent. This is an unfair practice that takes advantage of the current pension system in place. It is not sustainable by the state and should pensions ever get pushed down to local school districts it will negatively impact us.

Goal - It is important to know who your school board members are and what they represent and support in all areas. Do they understand the finances of the district? Do they understand the trends of other school districts and how D204 strives to be a change-maker? Do they understand the history of D204 and the challenges and goals of where D204 needs to go? My knowledge and experience in all of these areas best prepare me to represent you on D204 school board for the next four years. I hope to earn your vote on Tuesday, April 2nd.