1991 School District Consolidation Study

[Ted]

  Via an FOIA, I just reviewed the summary portion of a school consolidation study that was done in 1991. The consolidation study was requested by then state representative Judy Barr Topinka in February, 1989 and was completed in early 1991.

  What struck me was how different Berwyn was in 1990 than it is in 2006.  Here are some things that the study stated and recommended:

1) Declining birth rate - The study noted a declining birth rate between 1980 to 1989 - It obviously didn't anticipate the large migration of young families into Berwyn during the 1990s.

2) No middle schools in south Berwyn - The facility committee recommeded against a merger because North Berwyn had a middle school and South Berwyn did not have a middle school. The facility committee assumed that tax money would have to be used to build a middle school in south Berwyn. In 2006, South Berwyn has two middle schools.

3) Tax rates - Immediately before the study was done, District 98 voters had just voted to increase their education tax rate from $1.77 to $2.57, which is the rate that it is today; Distrct 100 had an education tax rate of $2.15, which is what it is today.  Neither District 98 nor District 100 has increased the education or operations tax rates since then.

4) No benefit study on reducing duplicate services - What I found particularly interesting was I could not find anywhere in the study taking a look at duplicate costs (i.e. two superintendants, etc.).  The study looked at curricula, facilities and the tax rates and finances but did not seem to look at duplicate costs (although I may have missed it in an appendix somewhere - the study is 360 pages long).

  A lot has changed in 15 years. The excuse of needing to build a middle school in South Berwyn does not exist anymore.  The excuse of needing to equalize the education tax rates also does not exist, given the deficit situation in south Berwyn District 100.

  Maybe its time to re-look at consolidation (especially when Morton West High School is part of the mix).  A lot has changed since 1989 when Judy Barr Topinka requested this study.

Ted

[java]

Ted, very interesting research.  Thanks for taking the time to review this. 
I think this should be the first item on next week's CARES meeting agenda.

[mom]

It is very interesting. Why would the board presidents cling so tightly to this outdated study? It seems to me like both of them are terrified of losing their positions. Both of them have held those for many years and are truly dedicated volunteers, but it might be time for a change.

[OakParkSpartan]

The interesting thing is District 98 has received national recognition for the good work they have done.  To me, rather than changing what works, maybe look at what has been done to see what works, and tweak the rest.

Resident of District 98.
Brian

[Ted]

The interesting thing is District 98 has received national recognition for the good work they have done.  To me, rather than changing what works, maybe look at what has been done to see what works, and tweak the rest.

Resident of District 98.
Brian

Brian,

  I agree that both District 98 and District 100 have done good jobs, especailly given the low EAV and number of low income students and English as a second language students that the districts have to deal with.

  But... does that mean we let $12 million dollars get ciphoned off to Cicero at the high school level?  Does that mean we cannot save costs by combing the districts or have a common curriculum across all schools in Berwyn?

  One other point - 2 years ago, District 98 had a projected deficit of $1.5 million dollars. The district wiped out the deficit by doubling the bond revenue from $1.9 million to $3.8 million and maxing out its long term debt (which is limited to 30% of the total tax rate).

  So, while I agree that the district is doing the right thing this fiscal year in having a balanced budget (and winning awards for having a balanced budget), they are also in a precarious position in terms of the long term debt and not having any wiggle room in terms of EAV.  The EAV wiggle room exists in south Berwyn at this point (unless District 100 also issues more bond and maxes out its debt to cover its $1.5 million dollar deficit) so combining districts makes sense for District 98 in terms of aleviating the long term debt and for Distrct 100 in terms of raising its tax rates to District 98 levels in order to address the District 100 deficit.

I am also curious as to what you think District 98 did that was "right"?  Was it the right thing to double the long term debt or would it have been better for District 98 to come to the voters, explain the sitiuation and ask for a tax increase first?  If the voters then voted against a tax rate increase, then issue more bonds (which are going to make taxes go up even more).  But, first, ask the voters and explain the situation.

Ted

[Shelley]

I also agree that Districts 98 and 100 have been pretty effective at managing the fiscal challenges that each face, especially as compared to District 201.  However, I don't think that means that our community should become complacent about education.  I think it is very important to continually look for creative ways to maintain and especially to continually improve fiscal efficiency in education.  Many of the challenges that school districts face are out of the control of the board (low EAV, tax caps, TIF districts, growing population, ESL families, etc.)  The state funding formula is not in our favor with its reliance on property tax revenue.  We must not accept the status quo, no matter how positive.   If combining these two adequate districts with Morton west high school could create an exceptional, more efficient, cutting edge system with less money for administration and more for our classrooms, a streamlined curriculum, and a sense of community pride that sets us apart from all other districts in the state...why settle for just "tweaking what works"??  How about instead of being just "satisfied" with our individual districts, we were "thrilled" with one Berwyn district.  Maybe we would even be proud?? 

[OakParkSpartan]

Well Ted,

I was going to respond with something about the academic awards they have received, but I can find no trace of that on the District 98 website 

I wasn't focusing on the finances. 

Cheers,
Brian

[Berwyn Patsy]

I also think that district 98 and 100 have done  good jobs with their districts.  I do not think anyone has ever said anything different, but times are changing, and if there is a chance of excelling to even greater expectations, then we all as a community should work to achieve this goal together.  We should all be striving to improve our schools, and financial goals as a team.

[Ted]

Well Ted,

I was going to respond with something about the academic awards they have received, but I can find no trace of that on the District 98 website 

I wasn't focusing on the finances. 

Cheers,
Brian

Brian,

  Sorry about that.  I thought you were referring to finances.  Actually, in circulating the petition today, one of the people who signed had a friend who lived in south Berwyn and now lives in north Berwyn and that friend believes his child is getting better educated in the north Berwyn system. The friend said he liked the way they do things better in north Berwyn better than south Berwyn.

Ted

[OakParkSpartan]

Do you know how much sharing is done between the two districts?  ie. lessons learned or best practices?

[Ted]

Do you know how much sharing is done between the two districts?  ie. lessons learned or best practices?

I don't know if there is a formal program on sharing.  I do know that the districts have looked at what the other district has done on some issues.  For example, I know District 100 adopted the school dress code (including the same colors on blue shirt and beige/white pants) after it was adopted in District 98.

Ted

[mom]

As far as I know, the districts do not do anything together. I was sitting for a friend who moved to D100 when my son was in kdg. at Jefferson. They even had different days off! As for the lunches offered, D100 has a private vendor, D98 buys from Morton. I would guess that curriculum, books, and other opps for sharing are squandered - except for when teachers or parents take the initiative.

D98 has done wonders with what they have, but have never gotten the recognition as their board members are not into self - promotion as much as D100 seems to be.

[Robert Pauly]

From what I've heard - and I'm not professing this to be fact - District 98 is working with Notre Dame's Institute For Latino Studies (conveniently located in south Berwyn), and District 100 is not.  Not a big issue until you consider that 70 of our school children are Latino, and that significant achievement gaps exists between our Latino and White students.

Who need help, eh?  What worked before will work now, no?

[Ted]

  Actually, I think both districts have done well with the resources they have.  That is why I think combining the districts would be good - we would be able to take the experiences on both sides of town and hopefully create a synergy based on that experience to create one terrific school district.

Ted

[Ted]

  Having read the whole study now, I think the decision in February, 1991 to not consolidate was the correct decision, based on the circumstances at the time.  Here are the reasons why the districts decided to not consolidate:

1) Tax rate difference - In the late 1980s and early 1990s, District 98 was in dire straits.  When the study was done in 1991, District 98 had a negative starting balance in its education fund of over $2 million dollars (that's starting balance, folks, not yearly operational deficit!).  The voters of District 98 had just voted to increase the education tax rate from $1.77 to $2.57 to alleviate the problem.

   At the same time, the committees studying finances received conflicting legal opinions on what the maximum tax rate could be for a newly formed district. One opinion stated that the new education tax rate could be as much as the District 98 tax rate of $2.57.  However, another legal opinion (which appeared to come in late in the game) stated that the tax rate could not be more than the District 100 tax rate of $2.15.

  In addition, the committee felt that any tax rate other than $2.57 would be dis-enfranchising the voters of north Berwyn, who had just voted for a tax hike to fix the district problems in north Berwyn and that, if the second legal opinion was true, that creating a new district with an education tax rate of $2.15 would create a district that was not solvent.

   The study noted that there was legislation being debated in the spring of 1991 that would do away with limiting the caps on newly formed districts to the minimum tax rate of the existing districts.


2) State aid formula changed - In the midst of this study, apparently the legislature changed the state aid formula. The change in the formula provided more state aid to districts with a low EAV and a high level of low income families.

  When the study started, the ISBE estimated a state aid differential of only $11,000 (out of a total amount of state aid of $2 million dollars).  However, under the new law enacted in 1991, the state aid differential jumped to a $140,000 loss per year with both districts expecting to get more in state aid than they had previously.


3) New midlde school in south Berwyn - The facility committee recommended against consolidation because there was no middle school in south Berwyn. The committee had looked at perhaps freeing up one of the existing schools in south Berwyn but could not do it. The committee assumed that additional tax dollars would have to be spent to create a middle school in south Berwyn and to bring some north Berwyn schools up to par for disabled people (I was not sure why that was a consolidation issue???)


I think the biggest issue was probably the difference in tax rates and the fact that north Berwyn had just voted to increase the tax rate to address their precarious financial situation in District 98.  It looks like the financial committee felt that, given the financial situation in north Berwyn, lowering the tax rate would not be good and that legally they could not have a tax rate above $2.15 for the education tax rate.

  Things are different today - today it is south Berwyn that is facing a decision to either go to the voters and ask for a tax rate increase or issue bonds that will increase taxes anyway.  For District 100 to be solvent, they would most likely have to raise the taxes that fund the education fund to the District 98 tax levels.

  In addition, the need to build a middle school in south Berwyn does not exist anymore.

Ted

[mom]

So it looks like the 1991 study has ceased to be relevant to today's school system. Again, I wish Tony and Joanne would answer why they still insist it is still valid.

[Ted]

So it looks like the 1991 study has ceased to be relevant to today's school system. Again, I wish Tony and Joanne would answer why they still insist it is still valid.

Mom,

Just one more thing I wanted to re-iterate.  No where in the study was there an investigation of cost savings due to duplicate positions and duplicate central functions.  I do not understand why that was not looked at.

Ted