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Page 9 -PLAIINDEALER-HERALD. WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 20,1985 Recent school referendums: some pass, some don't Editor's Note: The following is the third in a special McHenry Plaindealer Herald series on school finances and refererda that are sometimes proposed to keep the educational districts in McHenry and . Kane Counties afloat. ByMarkBaus PUlndMkr Herald Nvwt Service / Taxes. That's one word that can send even the calmest person into a frenzy. Nobody likes to pay them and when someone wants to raise them, a normally placid community can turn ugly. Taxes have that kind of effect on a nation, much less a com­ munity. Some might say the last presidential election was decided over the subject of taxes. Taxes are a way of life, though. Our national, state and local governments could not operate without them. Our public schools, unfortunately, cannot survive without them, either. There comes a time when a school board must, because of rising costs, ask a community for a raise in taxes to keep the schools functioning at a desired level. This is the story of two school boards who asked that of their communities and received two different answers. Several times over the last eight years, U-46 in Elgin, the third-largest school district in Illinois, had been trying to pass a tax referendum to boost its education fund. District 200 in Woodstock, a community and school district that is con­ siderably smaller that U-46, found itself in the same situation. Both school boards had tried to pass referenda and both failed several times, but both were determined to try again last November. D-200 asked its community for a 46-cents per $100 assessed valuation increase; U-46, a 87 cent increase. Both school boards, faced with a deficit in their educational budgets, contended that current programs couldn't be main­ tained at the present tax ratjg, and deep cuts would have to be made - shortened school days, increased class sizes, the loss of all extra-curricular activities, staff and program cuts - if the referenda were to fail. Dr. Richard Erickson, president of the U-46 school board, felt the board had to walk a fine line between hard and soft sell to get the referendum passed. "We had to contend with a two-ditch problem. One, we didn't want to threaten the community - tell them it was more taxes or else - and two, come across with casual in- sensitivity," Erickson said. The D-200 school board, faced with the same problems, had tried the hard sell approach previously and decided to be as sensitive to the community as possible. Frank Marks, then president of the D-200 school board, said the board might have went too far the other way. "If anything, the board in Woodstock has been too sen­ sitive. We bent over backwards to keep from threatening anybody. We started out asking for 90 cents, then 50 percent and then we got a 4 cent special education increase so we dropped it to 46 cents and it still didn't pass," Marks said. The primary reason for the success of the U-46 referendum, according to Erickson, was a grassroots effort by local businesses and community groups who actively cam­ paigned for passage. Two such groups, the Citizens Adivisory Council and the Concerned Citizens for Education, got in­ volved in the campaign almost immediately. The CAC has been in ex- sistence for 25 years advising the U-46 school board on various issues such as enrollment trends and finances. Arnold DeGroot, who has been with the CAC for four years, said their objective •was to get the message out. "The biggest thing we felt we had to do was disseminate in­ formation, but in order to do that you need money," DeGroot said. The CAC formed a business- community study group to solicit donations and, more importantly, try to get prominent members of the Elgin business community to publicly support the referendum. "I think a high contributing factor to the success of the referendum was the involvement of public figures to lend credence to the campaign," DeGroot said. "When you get the vice president of finance for Bank Americard* standing up and saying 'we need a referendum,' that lend a lot of credence to the message." One full-page advertisement in "The Daily Courier News" (Elgin) ran the pictures of many citizens in the community who each contributed one dollar when they got their picture taken. "When people looked at * the ad, they saw someone they might know which might have caused them to support the referendum," DeGroot added. More than 1,000 volunteers participated in a "knock and drop" campaign to deliver $ leaflets to virtually every home in the district the weekend before the election. Coupled with that were radio and newspaper advertisements. William Brady, who worked with CCFE, said the group obtained space in a downtwon store and used two full-time workers to run a fundraising campaign that netted nearly $15,000. The message Brady wanted to get out to the business com­ munity was that a good school system benefits a community in more ways than just providing quality education. "We tried to stress that good schools will sustain property values. Elgin has been proud of its schools and by supporting the referendum, we can continue that pride," Br&a> said. Erickson" said although the * school board was actively campaigning through speeches to various civic groups, it made the conscious decision to let the community groups do the majority of campaigning. "We t felt the message would mean even more when it comes from* the community," Erickson said. Brady agreed. "I think the fact that many view us as a sincere and knowledgable group, and having the message coming from an outside group other than the school board, caused people to feel that passage was imperative," Brady explained. The D-200 referendum campaign didn't get that kind of open public support from the community, but because the referendum only lost by a 10 percent margin, public support wasn't in question, according to Marks. "You can't say people in Woodstock don't support education because they do. But, you can't also say they support it as one of their top priorities. It all comes down to the relative value the community places on education," Marks said. Marks admitted the D-200 board has suffered from some misperceptions from the community. For example, in the 1980 referendum the school board promised major cuts in the schools. Though those cuts were made, Marks contends, many people accused the board of not following through on their promises. "We're accused of not having done all those cuts we promised in 1980, when in fact those cuts have been made. We just made them over a few years," Marks said. Extra money from the state and a few other areas enabled the school board to keep some of the programs that were slated to be cut. "I think we approached it (cuts) in kind of a piecemeal fashion only because we were trying to be fair," Marks ex­ plained. The business community in Elgin was strongly behind the referendum because they realized the importance of a educated labor force and con­ sumer force, Marks said. In Woodstock, that idea has taken some time to sink in. "It has taken some time for people to be convinced of the need and I think the people and business com­ munity (are) coming around," Marks said. Marks said D-200 will pass a referendum when the com­ munity realizes that the discomfort of an inadequate school system exceeds the dscomfort of paying more taxes Many area educators feel that, unless school districts can suc­ cessfully pass referenda, courses for special students, like this class for advanced students at Olson Junior High in Woodstock, my become a thing of the past. City police report accidents "When we get the majority ef people past that 4 discomfort level, t past »vel, that's when a referendum will pass in District 200." A McHenry man was ticketed following a car-bus collision that occurred recently at the in­ tersection of Green and John Streets Timothy J. Schmitt, 2313 N. Riverside Drive, McHenry, told investigators he stopped at the sign on northbound Green Street and the bus collided with his car as it made a left turn from John Street. The bus driver, Debra L. Mack, 117 N. Green St., McHenry, said the Schinitt vehicle continued to roll into the intersection when the collision w occurred. -**»- .*** «»•> v.. # Schmitt was cited for disobeying a traffic control device. No injuries were reported. Two cars collided after a third vehicle pulled out unexpectedly from a stop sign at the in­ tersection of Front and Main Streets on Feb. 15. - Alexander K. O'Connell, 5801 McHenry St., Burlington, Wis., was driving north on Front Street when a brown car pulled out from Main Street. O'Connell was able to stop bui nis car was struck in the rear by another auto. The driver of the other car, George H. Karas, 19 Plum HDmH, Sleepy Hollow (Dundee), HI., told police he could not stop in time. 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