Champaign Unit 4 - Next Steps

I truly believe that the good citizens of Champaign County want to support the public schools in every way, but, like citizen taxpayers everywhere, they expect clear thinking and honesty from their school board and administrators. They also expect judicious use of taxpayer dollars.

When you build a house, you might start with a "wish" list of features you want, which includes a lot of pie-in-the-sky amenities that you don't need at all, but which sound like a lot of fun to have.

When faced with the realities of your budget, however, you quickly get past the idea of having a large wine cellar in the basement.

It seems to me that Unit 4's priorities should look like this:

1. Add additional strands and seats north of University Avenue, as required by the consent decree.

Hint 1: Put those seats east of Mattis Avenue, not out in Whiteyville.

Hint 2: Might have to pay a premium if you want to build a new school in the heart of North Champaign. Suck it up and do it. If Unit 4 had done that 20 years ago, we wouldn't have continuing court oversight of our schools. Let's don't make the same damn mistake and build yet another school on the edge of town. While it might make sense to you and me to build schools where the city is growing, apparently that is racist, wrong and unfair to the inner city poor. Let's face it, if you buy a house way outside of town, you are probably planning on your kiddies having a little commute to school.

2. Save the spin doctoring for internal meetings that I don't have to listen to or read about. Have clear and legitimate reasons for the proposal that you put forth. If you are adding seats to counter past racism and to comply with the consent decree, just say that. Don't toss out a bunch of nonsense about community growth. News flash: Unit 4 has shrunk in size, and won't be getting back the kids who have moved to Mahomet or switched to private school. And, most of the people moving in to new houses west of Staley Road aren't new to the community - they are moving across town.

3. If air conditioning the schools is all of a sudden a priority, then get serious about it and do it across the board. Don't use it as a gimmick to try to attract votes; voters are not that stupid.

4. Don't even talk about building a Savoy school until you have met your consent decree obligations for north of University Avenue.

5. Budget the numerous needed capital improvements to the schools over 10 or 15 years. It is unfair and unpopular to try to correct decades of deferred maintenance on the backs of the people who happen to be property owners in 2006-2016. Spend $20 million this time, plan on coming back in 3 -5 years for $20 million more. News flash to Mr. Culver: we all work for a living, damn it, and while your schools have needs, so does everyone else. Don't forget that taxpayers already spend $70+ million a year on Unit 4 public education, and we are still paying for Stratton and Barkstalll. If you want to be a hero and rebuild all of the infrastructure now, get out your own checkbook and do it.

6. Think about actually putting some information on your website. http://www.champaignschools.org/ For example, one of the issues in the recent bond referendum was how many open seats there are currently at Stratton. Some sources said none, others said 200. Hey, here's a thought: put the data on the Internet so we can all see it. While you're at it, put all of the enrollment data, including the racial and socioeconomic make-up of all of the schools. Transparency builds confidence in the electorate.

7. Don't try to rush out a $66 million bond referendum until all of your ducks are in a row: what are you going to build, and where are you going to build it.