Citizens’ group forms to promote District 31 referendum

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Updated: February 27, 2012 8:46AM

Even though he voted in favor of a tax hike referendum for West Northfield Elementary School District 31 last year - he has two kids in the district - Phil Hollenberg admits he wasn’t sure that school officials had done all they could to reduce spending.

But with another, significantly smaller tax increase proposal on the ballot in March, Hollenberg is adamant that without the additional $1.55 million the district expects to receive if voters approve the measure, District 31 will be facing the kinds of cuts that will severely impact the educational program.

On top of that, he said, it will mean lower property values for district residents, whether they have children in the district or not.

“I’ll be brutally honest. I was not completely comfortable with the referendum last time,” Hollenberg said. “I thought the district might be overreaching in terms of what they were asking for.”

However, after the referendum last April failed the District 31 School Board made additional cuts impacting afterschool and extracurricular programs among other things. So far District 31 officials have cut about $1.8 million in an effort to deal with the shortage of revenue.

With those cuts in place, Hollenberg said he is convinced that the new proposal, that would increase the maximum tax rate in the district by 27 cents per $100 assessed valuation, is needed. The measure that was defeated in April asked to increase the maximum tax rate by 49 cents.

“All of the fat has been cut away,” Hollenberg said. “All that’s left is skin, bone and muscle.”

He is so convinced that he is among the organizers of Citizens for District 31, a group of parents, other district residents and off-duty District 31 teachers who are working for passage of the new referendum.

State law prohibits district officials from doing anything other than providing unbiased information on the tax hike. They can’t promote its passage.

But the citizens group has no similar limitations and Hollenberg said its members want to make sure voters understand the situation in the district.

District 31 has lost almost $5 million as the result of tax appeals by Allstate Insurance and is in negotiations with the company that will likely mean an a additional loss of property tax revenue.

At a presentation on district finances in October, Superintendent Alexandra Nicholson outlined the kinds of cuts that will be needed without more revenue. The District 31 School Board plans to review a list of proposed cuts that will have to be made if the March 20 referendum fails at a Jan. 26 school board meeting.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the Learning Center at Field School, 2055 Landwehr Road.

As an example of the kind of cuts that will be needed, Nicholson said during her October presentation that to reduce spending enough the district would have to eliminate 1.5 fine arts teachers, a half of an educational support person, almost one full science teacher and one custodian.

Nicholson said that with two rounds of cuts already made, the district is looking at things that for the most part will impact the educational program in District 31.

In order to tackle the problem officials recently put together a comprehensive list of everything that is not mandated by law for the district to provide.

While such things as bilingual education are required, others such as the district’s literacy specialist are not, Nicholson said.

Hollenberg said one of the myths that his group hopes to dispel among voters is that the district can solve its financial problems by consolidating with a neighboring school district.

However, he said, that would mean that residents of West Northfield District 31 - which has the lowest property tax rate among school districts in Northfield Township - would have their taxes increased to the rate in the other district.

In addition, Hollenberg said, it is unlikely that voters in both districts would even approve such a merger. That is one of the things required by state law, he noted.

Hollenberg said members of the committee are convinced that if the March vote fails and additional cuts are made, it will have a disastrous impact not only on the schools, but on the community.

“It has the possibility of destroying the community,” he said. “You don’t come back from something like that quickly.”

“There something in it for every resident who votes yes. You’re going to vote yes if you care about property values,” Hollenberg said.

The estimated annual tax increase, based on a home’s market value, would cost a District 31 taxpayer an extra $446 per year for a home valued at $500,000. Homes valued at $1 million would see an increase of $891.

“It’s really a community issue,” Hollenberg said. “Our community will really take a substantial hit. Our kids won’t get educated the way they should and our properly values will go down.”

Citizens for District 31 has set up a web site to provide information about the referendum and the group itself. It can be found at http://www.savedistrict31.com.