 A proposal to dissolve all
school districts and school boards
statewide and transfer all administrative work to newly created
county school boards has stalled in a House committee. The sponsor
put his plan on hold Thursday following an outcry of opposition. The
measure does not apply to the Chicago school district.State Rep.
Richard Morthland, R-Moline, has received more than 200 e-mails from
school officials voicing their concern.
"I've heard from superintendents and school board members across
the state -- literally, everywhere in the state -- because I am on
the committee that was hearing this before it would go to the
floor," said Morthland, a member of the House Counties and Townships
Committee.
State Rep. Robert Rita, D-Blue Island, filed
House Bill 1886 on Feb. 16. The proposal was not called for
debate on Thursday because he said he didn't have enough support
from committee members. His proposal was meant to spark
conversation, but he agreed that it wasn't ready in its current
form.
"It is a starting point to build off of, so that we could go back
to cutting inefficiencies, putting more money back into the
classrooms, looking at property tax relief," Rita said. "Because,
face it, in these economic times we need to look at some of these
cuts."
The proposal would dissolve all school districts and abolish
their school boards on July 1, 2012. All powers, duties and pending
businesses of approximately 870 Illinois school districts would be
transferred to about 102 newly created county school districts.
The measure states that "a special election must be held in each
county to elect members to a county school board" within 60 days of
passage and approval by the governor.
Morthland called the legislation's language "very aggressive."
Consolidation may be a possibility, but that conversation needs to
start locally, he said.
"I think we need to look at everything we can do to save money in
the state of Illinois," Morthland said. "But that doesn't mean that
every idea is a good idea and that it should move forward with the
lightning speed that we were set to move this forward."
State Rep. Patrick Verschoore, D-Rock Island, said nobody likes
"forced consolidation," adding that it should be "mutually agreed"
upon.
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"I don't think he is ever going to get enough votes to get it out
of committee," said Verschoore, who is chairman of the seven-member
committee.
Verschoore said he has heard from almost all school districts in
the state, including those in his legislative district, begging him
to oppose Rita's proposal.
"I think he realizes he doesn't have the votes to get it out of
committee -- it is a really controversial bill," Verschoore said. "I
mean, I have gotten a stack of e-mails, calls, faxes, whatever, from
all over the state."
Rita said he plans to make some changes to his proposal. But he
said the state needs to cut administrative costs, because some
superintendents' salaries are higher than the governor's salary.
"Illinois School Board Association was here. As I said, they are
not against some form of a consolidation, but the way this is, they
are opposed of it," Rita said. "And what we are doing is getting
some ideas, and I'm hoping to get some ideas to try and move this
forward."
Illinois State Board of Education spokesman Matt Vanover said the
proposal might mean efficiencies achieved through administrative
cuts, not necessarily closing school buildings.
"There would be a possibility of increased transportation costs
for districts, those type of things," he said. "The board's position
is essentially that they recognize the need to carefully consider
district consolidation in certain context, on an individual basis."
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By DIANE S.W. LEE]
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