Illinois Issues Reporter Bethany Carson Makes Right Choice About Adjournment Date

The Daily Herald’s “Animal Farm” blog is reporting that Jacobs High School graduate Bethany Carson, who now covers the State Capitol for Illinois Issues, a magazine published by the University of Illinois, put off her June 30th wedding when the General Assembly did not adjourn “on time.”

She re-scheduled it for August 4th.

The General Assembly still has not adjourned and doesn’t look like it will until at least August 4th.

Carson has learned the all-important lesson that Chicago media taught during the 1990’s by its lack of coverage of things Springfield:

What happens in Springfield
doesn’t make much difference.

She’s a fast learner.

Posted first on McHenry County Blog, which is very much alive this weekend.

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Ex-School Board Pres Wants Tax Hike

I really had a hard time believing this comment from former Carpentersville School District 300 Board President Mary Fioretti, which I found posted under a letter to the editor from the Huntley teachers union president in the Northwest Herald:

mary fioretti wrote on May 25, 2007 6:35 AM:

" The legislature, as it always does, tears apart a bill to "fit" their desires. So it's a big guess on what they would glean out of HB750. If it's a 2% increase in income tax multiply that by what you make each year. An income tax credit is available in the legislation for certain income levels."

Let’s see.

We have a three percent income tax on individuals right now.

A 2% increase would make the rate 3.06%.

Think that’s what Fioretti really means?

Or might she mean a two-percentage point income tax increase, which would, of course, be almost a 67% increase in income tax.

The comment above was right below this one:

mary fioretti wrote on May 25, 2007 6:33 AM:

"Dave, to your statements. This is not at all difficult to understand. Just like in any profession or owning a home, you have to acquire basic understanding. Don't let people make you crazy it's about the forumula. Look at the dollar portion of your school tax bill. Multiply that by 20% then do another calculation of 25%. That will be your potential abatement. Remember, not everyone owns a home."

Too bad that Fioretti and her allies at Advance 300 don't understand how to do a cost-benefit study. If the state income tax is increased, this area will not be among the "winners."

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IL District 300 Leads Way for Bloggers

A school district that has had bad publicity for discussions that its board held behind closed doors is now poised to lead the way in treating bloggers like print and electronic reporters.

Northwest Herald reporter David Fitzgerald reporter tipped me off in an interview on Monday afternoon.

Some of those commenting under his Tuesday article were less than kind about McHenry County Blog’s having been at least part of the inspiration for the rule change.

I can only remember filing one or two Freedom of Information requests with District 300, so I asked District Communications Supervisor Allison Smith if there were any other bloggers who had filed FOI requests.

Smith wrote me back, “…no one has filed FOIAs with D300 but you that I KNOW is a blogger.”

Fitzgerald wrote that the proposal

got enthusiastic approval from board President Joe Stevens and member Anne Miller.

The reporter concluded,

The changes would put the district in the vanguard of Web-based information distribution among the state’s school districts.

The draft proposal, which was discussed by the board’s Education Policy Committee, points out the following information is already on the district web site:

• Board meeting packets
• Bills payable listings
• Press releases
• Staff Presentations to the school board
• Projection of staffing needs, enrollment, etc.
• Slideshows of construction projects
• Faculty / staff directory

Compare that to what your school district posts online and I’ll bet District 300 provides more information.

Now, District 300’s administration is proposing to post all information released as a result of Freedom of Information requests, certainly not required by law.

Providing electronic copies would make District 300 “an Illinois leader in FOIA ‘customer service’,” the memo being considered says. It would also save money for those making the FOI requests, not to mention the trip to pick up the documents. Governments charge for making paper copies in FOIA requests.

Another benefit mentioned is that it would prevent “misinformation in the community on what information was/was not provided in response to a FOIA request.”

And the part about blogs, accurately labeled “a peripheral issue.”

Please consider what you would like the Board’s stand to be about blogs, specifically in terms of bloggers’ requests to be afforded the rights of the media in areas of

• Waiving FOIA copy fees
• Notifying the blogger of public meetings
• Conveyance of press releases,

the latter two being “beyond their already being posted online.”

I do remember asking to be emailed copies of District 300 press releases.

Other articles on McHenry County Blog.

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Homeschoolers To School Board

Maybe homeschooling has really gone mainstream.

Homeschool Dad and McHenry County Republican precinct committeeman John Ryan of Algonquin knocked off the Carpentersville District 300 School Board President Mary Fioretti.

And up Route 31 in McHenry, Republican precinct committeeman John O’Neill, also from a homeschooling family, won enough votes to capture the third seat on that town’s grade school district.

Both candidates were attacked for not having their children in the public school system in whispering campaigns. O’Neill found this piece of poorly printed literature the weekend before the election. Ryan was under regular internet email attack by the District 300 tax hike committee, Advance 300.

Advance 300 had $42,200 left over from its one-year approximately $150,000 successful referendum effort, but announced it would not support candidates during the election.

There was no doubt from the group’s email blasts, however, that Ryan and his running mate, Monica Clark were not Advance 300 favorites. Ryan, especially, was savaged by Advance 300 spokesman Nancy Zettler in the comment sections below Northwest Herald articles.

Both homeschoolers are fiscal conservatives. Both won a year after their school districts passed large tax rate referendums.

District 300 Board President Fioretti, appointed GOP committeeman by McHenry County Party Chairman Bill LeFew (from the opposite end of the county), is closely aligned with Advance 300, which used about $150,000 in school vendor and developer money to pass both a 55-cent tax rate hike and a huge bond issue a year ago.

One can only guess what caused the backlash for Ryan and his running mate Monica Clark to place first and second.

Maybe it was

• District 300's use of hugely inflated student population projections.
• conducting school business—like deciding to move a high school graduation site to another location—behind closed doors.
• banishing from school premises Stan Gladbach, a citizens finance committee member and frequent filer of Freedom of Information requests.
• the continuing and penetrating coverage by Daily Herald reporter Jeff Gaunt and, more recently, by the Northwest Herald’s David Fitzgerald.
• good campaigning on the part of the two elected Republican precinct committeemen.
• their Irish names.

And, the assistance provided by Jack Roeser’s Family Taxpayers Network to Ryan and Clark certainly helped, too.

Ryan says his goal is to immediately begin the process of opening the district’s activities to the public. He said he believes the board needs to immediately make the process of delivering information to community members far easier and friendly.

“We should never have a standoff with our community members over the information available to them."

A third homeschool Dad, David Etling, lost his bid for the Prairie Grove School District 47 Board.

More local election coverage on McHenry County Blog.

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