Post by WeNeed3 on Sept 17, 2009 7:39:21 GMT -5
Enrollment booms; economy doesn't
Oswego holds out for change
September 17, 2009
By ERIKA WURST ewurst@scn1.com
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1774793,2_1_AU17_OSWEGOFUND_S1-090917.article
It's a problem with no foreseeable future, spokesman Kristine Liptrot lamented last month as she mulled over the Oswego School District finances.
These are the facts: property values are dropping, development is drying up, and on the financial front, the usually comfortable district is dealing with problems of unseen magnitude.
Amid a school funding crisis, the only thing on the upswing in Oswego is enrollment. Well, that and the administration's blood pressure.
School Superintendent Dan O'Donnell said the district has 16,500 students -- up almost 1,500 from the previous year. That's made up of mostly lower-level students who are likely to remain in the district for years. O'Donnell said more than 1,400 kindergartners entered the district last month.
"We're looking at issues including how to house students, how to pay more teachers," O'Donnell said. "The class sizes are getting bigger, and that makes it much harder for kids to get personal attention. While this seems like a financial problem, it's actually an educational problem."
For years, Oswego had been a booming village. Commercial and real estate taxes kept the district on a healthy high note, and voter support kept referendum money flowing in.
Thanks to a $450 million building bond referendum passed in 2006, new schools were built, old schools were remodeled and support buildings were constructed. Grants were being thrown at the district, which for years had been among the quickest-growing in the state.
"For years we have had huge growth in housing," Liptrot said.
But that would soon change. Families aren't buying homes and business isn't as quick to build. Funds collected from the district's frozen tax rate of 5.06 percent (which administrators expected to lock in for a decade) weren't lucrative.
In Oswego, the crunch in funding and the equalized assessed valuation of homes going through the floor has taken its toll.
"It's killing us," Liptrot said. "It's never been like this before. People at the state level don't even know what to do."
And, aside from asking voters for more money, there's little to do.
"The promise we made to voters (in 2006) was that we would hold out until 2011," Liptrot said. "We will look and see if we can get by until then, but we're not sure if we'll have enough money to hire enough teachers."
To cut costs, supply purchases have been limited, and the use of substitute teachers has decreased.
"I came out of retirement to work with these people," O'Donnell said of his staff. "It's just an extremely unusual time, and we're all being very creative in dealing with it."
Commercial land sales, which would bring in revenue without more students, would be ideal, Liptrot said, but she's got no crystal ball. Liptrot said there is potential for growth in the 68.8-square-mile district.
Oswego holds out for change
September 17, 2009
By ERIKA WURST ewurst@scn1.com
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/news/1774793,2_1_AU17_OSWEGOFUND_S1-090917.article
It's a problem with no foreseeable future, spokesman Kristine Liptrot lamented last month as she mulled over the Oswego School District finances.
These are the facts: property values are dropping, development is drying up, and on the financial front, the usually comfortable district is dealing with problems of unseen magnitude.
Amid a school funding crisis, the only thing on the upswing in Oswego is enrollment. Well, that and the administration's blood pressure.
School Superintendent Dan O'Donnell said the district has 16,500 students -- up almost 1,500 from the previous year. That's made up of mostly lower-level students who are likely to remain in the district for years. O'Donnell said more than 1,400 kindergartners entered the district last month.
"We're looking at issues including how to house students, how to pay more teachers," O'Donnell said. "The class sizes are getting bigger, and that makes it much harder for kids to get personal attention. While this seems like a financial problem, it's actually an educational problem."
For years, Oswego had been a booming village. Commercial and real estate taxes kept the district on a healthy high note, and voter support kept referendum money flowing in.
Thanks to a $450 million building bond referendum passed in 2006, new schools were built, old schools were remodeled and support buildings were constructed. Grants were being thrown at the district, which for years had been among the quickest-growing in the state.
"For years we have had huge growth in housing," Liptrot said.
But that would soon change. Families aren't buying homes and business isn't as quick to build. Funds collected from the district's frozen tax rate of 5.06 percent (which administrators expected to lock in for a decade) weren't lucrative.
In Oswego, the crunch in funding and the equalized assessed valuation of homes going through the floor has taken its toll.
"It's killing us," Liptrot said. "It's never been like this before. People at the state level don't even know what to do."
And, aside from asking voters for more money, there's little to do.
"The promise we made to voters (in 2006) was that we would hold out until 2011," Liptrot said. "We will look and see if we can get by until then, but we're not sure if we'll have enough money to hire enough teachers."
To cut costs, supply purchases have been limited, and the use of substitute teachers has decreased.
"I came out of retirement to work with these people," O'Donnell said of his staff. "It's just an extremely unusual time, and we're all being very creative in dealing with it."
Commercial land sales, which would bring in revenue without more students, would be ideal, Liptrot said, but she's got no crystal ball. Liptrot said there is potential for growth in the 68.8-square-mile district.