Yes For Unit 5 signs were on display and available for pick up during Unit Five’s informational meeting on their tax referendum at Normal Community High School on Tuesday night. After the meeting the signs were handed out by Patrick Mainieri, Treasurer and Spokesperson for YesForUnit5.org a group that supports the tax referendum.
Unit 5 is allowed by law to provided information regarding the referendum but is not allowed to get into the politics of asking the public to vote for it. Allowing these signs to be displayed outside the meeting room but in the school during the meeting and allowing them to be handed out after the meeting may or may not have crossed that line but it certainly wasn’t a good look.
R.C. McBride, General Manager of WGLT is the Chair of YesForUnit5.org. Other group members are Neil Finlen, Ben Matthews, Meta Mickens-Baker, Tony Penn and Janessa Williams.
On their website Yes For Unit 5 restates one of the district’s arguments in their campaign, that is, after passing the referendum, “starting in 2026, taxpayers will actually enjoy an overall tax rate decrease of $0.70 — a 12.5% reduction.”
This is an Orwellian argument given taxes will go down a lot more if the referendum fails.
The McLean County Republican Party is opposing the tax referendum. According to their October newsletter, “A typical knee jerk reaction is to demand more to support bureaucratic programs because ‘nothing is too good for our kids,’ despite how much Unit 5 is already spending. Others say, ‘Enough is enough! There is no guarantee that increased funding will improve the educational outcomes,’ which is true.”
The newsletter goes on to say, “We already spend a large sum of money on education, and what are the results? According to the most recent Unit 5 school report card, only 53% of students are proficient in the Illinois Science Assessment, only 30% pass 8th grade algebra, and only 78% are on track in 9th grade.”
“Now is not the time to reduce our income even further by adding a new tax. It’s time for a bit of belt tightening, making do with what we have. We all have to do it, and Unit 5 should too,” the newsletter concludes.
Connie Beard is Chair of the McLean County Republicans. Other officers are Dennis Grundler, Carl Haney, Bruce Haney, Mike Steinkoenig, Jim Snyder, David Blumenshine, George Wendt and Adam Reeves.
Cities 92.9 Interviews Unit 5’s Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
After the meeting Cities asked Unit 5 Business Manager Marty Hickman how the School board’s ask for a $14 million increase got to be $20 million on the ballot?
Hickman responded, “What we did we took the community feed back and and then kind of worked backwards with a projection of what revenue we expected over the next ten years versus trying to forecast expenses the best we could over the next ten years and what would be the number that would finance and be able to keep those programs that the community identified.”
Numbers provided by the district during this whole escapade have been fuzzy. The district never provided us a budget forecast showing what would have to be cut if no referendum passed. The amount they said they needed ranged from $12 million to $15 million throughout discussions before the board agreed to seek a referendum only to balloon to $20 million when the referendum was shown to the public as it will appear on the ballot.
