Budget Problems Dominate District 181 Forum

Cutting costs to reduce or eliminate projected budget deficits while maintaining educational quality emerged as the primary concern of District 181 School Board candidates participating in a forum Thursday at Clarendon Hills Middle School.

Six candidates running for four open seats on the board took part in the event, sponsored by the League of Women Voters and The Doings.

In his opening statement, candidate Scott Musil said the district was facing a $1.5 million deficit over the next five years, which would cut the district’s fund balance from $19 million to $9.9 million.

He said one of his top priorities in trying to address that budget imbalance would be through negotiation with the teachers’ union.

“The teachers here are doing a great job,” he said. “The teachers have had a very good deal.”

Musil, a CFO for a real estate company, has three children. One is a sophomore at Hinsdale Central. Another attends Hinsdale Middle School and the third attends Madison Elementary.

“I think we’ve got great schools in the district,” he said, “but I think in the last couple years the district hasn’t really lived in the reality of the rest of the world.”

In his opening remarks, candidate Michael Nelson said the budget needed to be balanced without resorting to a tax increase or referendum.

“That’s nonsense in this economy, in my opinion,” he said.

Nelson, a retired marketing and advertising executive, has a son who is a junior at Hinsdale Central and a daughter who attends Clarendon Hills Middle School. He currently serves on the Hinsdale Plan Commission.

Four Hinsdale Caucus candidates

Nelson, along with Glenn Yaeger, Susan Nezda Lastres, and Brendan Heneghan, were selected to run for the board by the Hinsdale Caucus.

“I think that’s one thing to consider here because of the vetting process you go through,” said Heneghan, a senior attorney for IBM.

“It’s going to be very important to put a board together that is strong and works together well,” agreed Yaeger.

Yaeger, former general manager of the Nashville Sounds minor league baseball team, has three sons who attend District 181 schools. He said the residents attending the forum would find the candidates had similar ideas on many issues.

In addition to Musil, Marty Turek is the other candidate not part of the Hinsdale Caucus slate.

“I’m a product of 181,” he noted. “As corny as it sounds, I want to give back to the community.”

Turek is the vice president of a software company and the only candidate who resides in Clarendon Hills. He has two children who attend district schools.

Nezda Lastres said her background gave her a “unique perspective” that would be beneficial to the board.

“I’m a teacher. I’m an associate professor at Northwestern,” she noted. “I feel that I can put myself in the shoes of our educators and administrators, as well as parents and taxpayers.”

Different views on differential educational

As Yaeger predicted, there was general agreement among the candidates on many of the issues addressed by the forum. There were subtle distinctions in some areas, though, including the way the district was handling special education and talented and gifted students.

Heneghan said he supported differential programs.

“I think there’s some misinformation that’s out there,” he said, including the cost of the programs. “If we can’t do this here in one of the wealthiest districts … where can we do this?”

Nezda Lastres also referred to “rumors” in the community about the programs, and said she supported differential learning for all students.

“It’s not just about either extreme,” she said. “Policies have to change. There has to be flexibility.”

Nelson said he strongly supported gifted education, but “what we have today is not well-targeted. It’s not well-structured. And getting into it is a mess.”

Closing schools or cutting programs?

None of the candidates said they supported the idea of closing Oak and/or Elm schools and four of the six said they would not consider eliminating extra-curricular activities. However, Nezda Lastres indicated she might consider cutting some programs, as did Heneghan.

“There are certain programs I would consider eliminating,” he said.

The candidates were then pressed to offer specific cost-cutting ideas.

“I think a lot can be done … simply by fixing the teachers’ contract,” Turek said. “There’s a lot of components. … By tweaking just a few of them, you can have a major impact.”

Yaeger noted that the budget deficit projections were based on the salary schedule that is in the current contract with teachers. He said some of the raises were far in excess of the change in the consumer price index.

Musil wondered why there has been an increase of 30 staff members in the district since 2004, when enrollment has remained stable.

Nelson said the board was going to have to make some tough decisions.

“We say we’re going to balance the budget up here like it’s easy,” he said. “It’s not going to be easy.”

While the district’s financial problems may not be easy to fix, all of the candidates expressed optimism about the future of the district in their closing statements.

“The sky is not falling,” Turek said. “This is a wonderful school district.”

The school board election will be held April 5. Early voting begins next week.