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Politics & Government

District 86 Board Members Question Value of Professional Memberships

Renewal of the district's membership in the Legislative Education Network of DuPage County (LEND) passed by a single vote.

Every year, thousands of school boards across the country vote to renew their memberships in organizations that provide districts with information, training, and lobbying services, like the Illinois Association of School Boards (IASB) and the National School Boards Association (NSBA). These votes are usually routine. That was not the case at this week’s District 86 Board of Education meeting, however, as “routine” votes for the fractured board become less and less common.

Renewal of the district’s membership in the Legislative Education Network of DuPage County (LEND) was included in the consent agenda for Monday’s board meeting at Hinsdale Central High School. But Board Member Dr. Richard Skoda asked that it be pulled from the consent agenda for further consideration.

“We already belong to the IASB,” Skoda pointed out. “We already belong to the national association of school boards. We belong to Ed-Red [an organization of suburban school districts in Illinois].”

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Skoda noted that the annual cost for the district to be a member of LEND was $4,500.

“What do we get from LEND that we don’t get from Ed-Red, the Illinois Association of School Boards, that we don’t from our state legislators?” Skoda asked. “Why is this valuable?”

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Board President Dennis Brennan observed that the school board had received presentations from the various organizations in the past, suggesting that a majority of board members had seen value in belonging to them.

“I concur with Dr. Skoda,” Board Member Dianne Barrett said. “If some of those organizations are redundant, why did we sign up for all of them?”

Brennan recalled that the different organizations in question made presentations to the board at Barrett’s request.

“I thought you were satisfied with the presentations,” he said. “This issue hasn’t arisen since.”

“No, it hasn’t,” agreed Barrett. “But I think in these economic times, the board needs to be a little more careful how they spend $5,000.”

Brennan argued that the organizations provided value by trying to get legislators to apportion aid more equitably.

“What the state legislature has decided [in past sessions] is we’re well off and we don’t need their funding,” he said. “We get $218 per student [in state aid], which is basically nothing, where some schools get $6,300.”

Skoda argued that not approving the membership renewal in LEND would save $4,500 and would not have any adverse impact on the district.

“No fewer kids are going to graduate,” he said. “No fewer kids are going to go to Harvard.”

Barrett and Skoda’s arguments failed to convince a majority of board members, but instead of the 5-2 vote that has become commonplace on many issues, this time the board split 4-3, with new Board Member Jennifer Planson also voting against the membership renewal.

A comparison of a list of all DuPage County school districts with the membership list on the LEND website shows a clear majority of districts in the county belong to LEND, though not all. A few exceptions include Itasca School District 10, Roselle School District 12 (both elementary districts), and Wheaton Warrenville Community Unit School District 200 (elementary and high school).

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