According to Ed Sullivan of EOSULLIVAN Consulting the Unit 5 School District community favors passing a referendum to increase the annual funding for the district by $13 million.
Apparently the community approves this based on the word of the district stating their need without demonstrating any proof they need it.
Unit 5 has yet to put forth a proposed budget for 2022/23 showing what their expected revenue is and where it would fall short of funding existing needs.
EOSULLIVAN consulting is Ed Sullivan. According to the company website, “First elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 2002, Mundelein native Ed Sullivan established himself as a leader in the General Assembly.
Photo of Ed Sullivan, Photo courtesy to Illinois General Assembly
Having served seven terms, Sullivan has been recognized as a leading expert on revenue, budget and property tax issues. In addition, he has established a strong record on public safety, education, public utilities, and domestic violence issues.”
EOSULLIVAN was hired by Unit 5 to engage in public involvement for the district to determine what support the community might have for passing a referendum to increase school funding through an increase in property taxes.
Cities reported the intuitive reasons the district gave for needing more funding.
Cities debunked most of those arguments. One reason: “spending on behavioral and social needs of students” rang true.
But overcoming that wouldn’t cost $13 million. Cities 92.9 also pointed out that the district failed to present “the impact in dollars” their reasons “have on the cost of their annual operating budget.”
Unit 5 School District has been moving forward with its community involvement effort to involve the public in solving the budget crisis it says it has leaving them needing an $11 million increase for next year without really providing numbers that back up that claim.
Do the the items they are trying to use to justify the increase?
This story is developing.
For example what does the typical respondent to a phone survey regarding this issue look like? Based on the results one could say the typical respondent was a white conservative female over 65 years of age with no current connection to a Unit 5 school. The number one thing they would hate to see would be a decrease in staff and therefore they would slightly favor a $13 million increase. People who responded to the survey, like our imaginary typical respondent, did not have time to be educated on the topic and therefore their responses are described as intuitive and they are described as uninformed.
EOSULLIVAN also worked with a community committee. The committee was able to be better informed of the situation Unit 5 faces. As such these individuals are described as informed. Those involved in the committee are supportive of a $17 million dollar increase in the Unit 5 annual operating budget and a referendum to provide it.
Only 19% of respondents supported no increase at all. Support for a $21 million increase was also low.
As a result EOSULLIVAN will now move on to the next phase of public involvement. In this phase they will present three budget alternatives. One will be for an $11 million annual increase. The second will be for a $13 million increase. And the third will be for $17 million.
