School District 300 regularly has meetings to which local legislators are invited.
The next one in January 21st at Jacobs High School.
If you want to see legislators in action, this should be on your calendar.
The event will begin with a casual reception with state legislators from D300 at 5:30 p.m., followed by a public forum at 6:15 p.m. to learn about and discuss education-related legislation. This event is free and open to all ages.
For more information about our Board-approved legislative priorities, please visit http://bit.ly/IKXcSF.
Legislative districts covering part of District 300.
These events are a good investment in time.
You get to listen to your elected representatives talk to one another.
School Board, State Reps, State Senators.
Some don’t attend.
Some send spokespeople.
But very interesting.
Sheds some light on school politics.
Budget time for the reception, you’ll learn as much if not more than the forum.
At least District 300 lets the public participate.
In some school districts, the public is not allowed to participate in the forums.
In some school districts, US Reps and Senators are invited.
In some school districts, the meetings are held in the morning not evening.
Want to show them you are an educated consumer.
Read and educate yourself about this document.
Evolution of the Teachers Retirement System of the State of Illinois Benefit Structure.
As of October 2013.
http://trs.illinois.gov/pubs/history.pdf
17 pages of tax hikes.
Next, how about year over year salary hikes in your school district from 1999 – 2012.
Download Teacher Service Record (TSR) spreadsheets from the Illinois State Board of Election (ISBE) website.
http://www.isbe.state.il.us/research/htmls/teacher_service_record.htm
2001-02 school year through 2011-12 school year.
After downloading those 11 spreadsheets, make another spreadsheet for just your school district(s).
Some school districts are what’s called a unit district, covering Pre School through 12th grade.
Some school districts are what’s called a high school district (HSD), covering 9th – 12th grades.
Some school districts are what’s called elementary school districts (ESD), covering pre school through
12th grade.
It seems most elementary and unit school districts offer pre school for at least some students.
The school district to which you pay taxes will be listed on your tax bill.
If you live in an apartment, ask the landlord or neighbors.
Next you will need to learn how ISBE names and identifies your school district.
Here is how ISBE names and identifies your school district.
There’s something called the RCDT code.
Region – County – District – Type.
xx-xxx-xxxx-xx.
Region is 2 digits.
County is 3 digits.
District is 4 digits.
Type is 2 digits.
Note there’s also an RCDTS code where S = school; and it’s 4 digits.
Here’s the list of McHenry County school districts.
There are four columns in the list.
1. RCDT Code
2. School District Name
3. District Office Location
4. Type of School District
RCDT – School District Name – District Office Location – Type
44063019024 – Alden Hebron SD 19 – Hebron – Unit
44063026004 – Cary CCSD 26 – Cary – Elementary
44063155016 – CHSD 155 – Crystal Lake (incl Cary-Grove HS) – High School
44063158022 – Cons SD 158 – Algonquin (incl Huntley) – Elementary
44063047004 – Crystal Lake CCSD 47 – Crystal Lake – Elementary
44063003003 – Fox River Grove Cons SD 3 – Fox River Grove – Elementary
44063036002 – Harrison SD 36 – Wonder Lake – Elementary
44063050026 – Harvard CUSD 50 – Harvard – Unit
44063012026 – Johnsburg CUSD 12 – Johnsburg – Unit
44063154016 – Marengo CHSD 154 – Marengo – High School
44063165003 – Marengo-Union E Cons D 165 – Marengo – Elementary
44063015004 – McHenry CCSD 15 – McHenry – Elementary
44063156016 – McHenry CHSD 156 – McHenry – High School
44000000046 – McHenry Co Coop for Employ Educ – Woodstock – EFE
44000000000 – McHenry ROE – Woodstock – Regional Office of Education
44063002003 – Nippersink SD 2 – Richmond – Elementary
44063046003 – Prairie Grove CSD 46 – Crystal Lake – Elementary
44063157016 – Richmond-Burton CHSD 157 – Richmond – High School
44063018004 – Riley CCSD 18 – Marengo – Elementary
44063801060 – Spec Ed Dist of McHenry Co-Sedom – Woodstock – Special Ed
44063200026 – Woodstock CUSD 200 – Woodstock – Unit
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
School district boundaries often don’t follow county boundaries.
The following are some school districts with a partial geographical boundary in McHenry County, yet the
district is categorized by ISBE as being in another county.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Kane County School Districts with land in McHenry County
RCDT – School District Name – District Office Location – Type
31045300026 – CUSD 300 – Carpentersville – Unit
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lake County School Districts with land in McHenry County
RCDT – School District Name – District Office Location – Type
34049220026 – Barrington CUSD 220 – Barrington – Unit
34049118026 – Wauconda CUSD 118 – Wauconda – Unit
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Boone County School Districts with land in McHenry County
RCDT – School District Name – District Office Location – Type
04004100026 – Belvidere CUSD 100 – Belvidere – Unit
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Acronyms
CCSD – Community Consolidated School District
CHSD – Community High School District
Cons – Consolidated
Co Coop for Employ Educ – County Cooperative for Employment Education
CUSD – Community Unit School District
EFE – Education for Employment (vocational education funding)
SD – School District
Spec Ed Dist – Special Education District
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To obtain teacher salaries from 1999, 2000, and 2001 school years, you can download data to a spreadsheet
from the Family Taxpayer Foundation’s Teacher Salary Database.
http://www.familytaxpayers.org/salary.php
The Family Taxpayer Database presents a unique challenge.
The spelling of school district names sometimes vary from year to year, as you will soon discover.
Here are the spelling variations for the above school districts in the Family Taxpayers Teacher &
Administrator Salary Database in the years 1999 – 2001.
Alden Hebron 19 – 1999, 2000
Alden Hebron School Dist 19 – 2001
Cary 26 – 1999, 2000
Cary C C School Dist 26 – 2001
Community 155 – 1999, 2000
Community High School Dist 155 – 2001
Huntley 158 – 1999, 2000
Consolidated School District 158 – 2001
Crystal Lake 47 – 1999, 2000
Crystal Lake C C Sch Dist 47 – 2001
Fox River Grove 3 – 1999, 2000
Fox River Grove Cons S D 3 – 2001
Harrison 36 – 1999, 2000
Harrison School District 36 – 2001
Harvard 50 – 1999, 2000
Harvard C U School Dist 50 – 2001
Johnsburg 12 – 1999, 2000
Johnsburg C U School Dist 12 – 2001
Marengo 154 – 1999, 2000
Marengo Comm Hs Dist 154 – 2001
Marengo 165 – 1999, 2000
Marengo-union Elem Cons Dist 165 – 2001
McHenry 15 – 1999, 2000
Mchenry C C School Dist 15 – 2001
McHenry 156 – 1999, 2000
Mchenry Comm H S Dist 156 – 2001
McHenry Co Coop for Employ Educ – No records?
McHenry ROE – No records?
Spring Grove District 11 and Richmond Grade School District 13 merged to form Nippersink SD 2, effective the 2000 – 2001 school year.
Spring Grove 11 – 1999, 2000
Richmond 13 – 1999, 2000
Nippersink School Dist 2 – 2001
Prairie 46 – 1999, 2000
Prairie Grove C Sch Dist 46
Richmond 157 – 1999, 2000
Richmond-burton Comm H Sc D 157 – 2001
Riley 18 – 1999, 2000
Riley C C School Dist 18 – 2001
Spec Ed Dist Of Mchenry Co-sedom – 2001; 1999, 2000 unknown
Woodstock 200 – 1999, 2000
Woodstock C U School Dist 200
Search tips on Family Taxpayers:
Type in school district number (the actual number) into the “Find a District” search bar on Family Taxpayers.
Be careful to select the proper year for each search.
Download tips on Family Taxpayers:
Once you select a district and the contact names and salaries appear, select “download data.”
Select “Save File.”
Then wherever the file downloaded on your PC, click on the file to load it into Microsoft Excel.
Next, re-arrange the columns so the match the columns in the ISBE spreadsheets.
Then copy and paste the records from the Family Taxpayer spreadsheet to the ISBE spreadsheet.
You can use Excel rules such as “Text to Column” to convert the Family Taxpayer name column (full name) to three different columns (First, Middle, Last) to match the ISBE spreadsheet.
12-14 year old salary data??
What the hell good is that info??
Teachers have come and gone, economies have changed, ebb and flow of residents, others have died.
Oh yeah, and the Twin Towers were destroyed.
You posted some good info, but that segment is useless.
The data starts in 1999.
It doesn’t end in 1999.
1999.
2000.
2001.
2002.
2003.
2004.
2005.
2006.
2007.
2008.
2009.
2010.
2011.
2012.
It’s all there.
All those years.
With that information you have annual salaries from 1999 – 2012.
Extremely useful information.
Salaries are the largest component of a school budget, around 75 – 80% in a typical suburban Chicago school district.
Calculate the average percentage salary increases.
How do those salary increases compare to yours?
Were the salary increases reasonable?
Salary increases, increase pensions.
Salary increases are one of the major reasons why the pensions are unaffordable and underfunded.
Big salary increases, which have increased the state’s contribution to the TRS pension fund, which the
state cannot afford, are one of the reasons why the State is considering switching the States pension contribution back to local school districts; after all the state is making the contribution “on behalf of the employer” which is the school district.
With the above data you can do your own research on your own school district.
You don’t have to rely on averages reported by anyone.
You can calculate your own averages.
You can double check what school districts in the past have reported as “average salary increases” when reporting a new collective bargaining agreement has been reached.
You can compare the salary increases to private schools and schools in other states, if you can find the data.
You can compare the salary increases to economic data reported by the US Census bureau, teacher unions, and other sources.
School districts are the largest part of your tax bill.
Salaries are the largest part of the school district budget.
Here are the school district names in the Family Taxpayer database, for school districts based in other counties that spill over into McHenry County.
Community 300 – 1999, 2000
Comm Unit Sch Dist 300 – 2001
Barrington 220 – 1999, 2000
Barrington C U School Dist 220 – 2001
Wauconda 118 – 1999, 2000
Wauconda Comm Unit S Dist 118 – 2001
Belvidere 100 – 1999, 2000
Belvidere C U Sch Dist 100 – 2001
Once again, for years after 2001, consult the ISBE TSR.
So with the above data for example you can pick out an employee in CUSD 300 in 1999, and track that employees salary annual salary increases through school year 2012.
Speaking of school year 2012.
Here’s how school years work.
Say for instance you see Year 2012 in ISBE or Family Taxpayer records.
That would represent July 2011 – June 2012, with kids being in school Aug 2011 – May 2012.
Thus a 12 month school year or fiscal year extends into two calendar years.
Teacher and Administrator salaries for CUSD 300 for the Fiscal Years 1999 – 2012 was $995,265,840 per the above Family Taxpayers and ISBE records.
That’s an average of $71,090,417 per year for 14 years.
That doesn’t include subs, aides, support personnel, maintenance, grounds, and other types of workers.
That Nine Hundred and Ninety Five Million Dollars came from Federal Income Taxes, State Income Taxes,
Local Property Taxes, and other tax revenue.
Did anyone other than school district administration bother to check the teacher and administrator annual salary increases of that $995 Million?
Year over year increases for each employee?
How about the source of all that revenue?
When the teacher union says Illinois State funding for education is low, that’s because Illinois Property
Tax funding devoted to education is high in much of suburban Chicago.
The ratio of Federal, State, and Local tax revenue varies district by district, largely determined by district wealth.
Less wealthy districts receive more Federal and State money.
And I wonder if the union is including the payment from the state to the teacher and administrator pension fund in their figure of state funding for education?
How about the school district revenue lost to TIF’s?
If no one bothers to check into and report on school district data, if the Board just trusts administration, if taxpayers just trust the board, how do we know if the tax money is being spent effectively?
School districts vary greatly in how effectively they spend money.
The following are some actual salary increases from the ISBE (Years 2002 – 2012) and Family Taxpayer Foundation (Years 1999 – 2001).
Superintendent Michael Bregy
Year – Salary – Years of Service
2012 – $196,857 – 15.5
2011 – $161,892 – 14.5
2010 – $142,298 – 13.5
2009 – $135,800 – 12.5
2008 – $128,954 – 11.5
2007 – $122,728 – 10.5
2006 – $116,747 – 09.5
2005 – $113,042 – 08.0
2004 – $080,410 – 07.5
2003 – $080,508 – 06.0
2002 – $057,265 – 05.0
I’ll scroll down the list to find a few teachers that have worked quite a few years in the district.
Special Education Teacher Jennifer Breeze
Year – Salary – Years Worked
2012 – $58,940 – 11
2011 – $59,400 – 10
2010 – $59,116 – 09
2009 – $55,057 – 08
2008 – $52,549 – 07
2007 – no records
2006 – $48,726 – 06
2005 – $45,898 – 05
2004 – $38,952 – 04
2003 – $36,291 – 03
2002 – $18,258 – 02
2001 – $31,469 – 01
Special Education Teacher Linda Brodie
Year – Salary – Years Worked
2012 – $104,964 – 28
2011 – $110,694 – 27
2010 – $107,470 – 26
2009 – $126,940 – 25
2008 – $104,980 – 24
2007 – $093,294 – 23
2006 – $096,877 – 22
2005 – $084,368 – 21
2004 – $082,124 – 20
2003 – $073,049 – 19
2002 – $069,923 – 18
2001 – $072,974 – 17
2000 – $061,237 – 16
1999 – $054,943 – 15
Elementary Teacher Susan Burke
Year – Salary – Years Worked
2012 – $99,006 – 27
2011 – $92,364 – 26
2010 – $92,742 – 25
2009 – $89,609 – 24
2008 – $85,152 – 23
2007 – $81,488 – 22
2006 – $78,123 – 21
2005 – $74,772 – 20
2004 – $74,189 – 19
2003 – $67,908 – 18
2002 – $63,936 – 17
2001 – $57,774 – 16
2000 – $53,431 – 15
1999 – $47,934 – 14
There are 17,229 line items of teacher and administrator salaries to analyze in CUSD 300 in the 14 year period from 1999 – 2012.
The above cases provide real world examples of salary increases in CUSD 300.
One more thing about the Family Taxpayers Teacher and Administrator Salary Database.
For the year 1999.
The “Years Teaching” field has an error.
Each record has an extra zero.
So 34 Years Teaching is displayed as 340 years teaching.
After you download the data to MS Excel, here’s how to correct the errors in Microsoft Excel.
First note when you view the records online at http://www.familytaxpayers.org/salary.php, “Years Teaching” is displayed.
When you download the data to Excel or whatever other spreadsheet or database you desire, “Years Teaching” becomes “Experience”.
Here’s an Excel fix in very simple terms.
Depending on you version of Excel, the steps may vary slightly.
There’s many ways to solve the problem, this is just one solution.
1. Create two blank columns to the right of Experience.
2. Since Experience is column F, you will create blank columns G and H.
3. Note Row 1 is the header row with column titles.
4. Place this formula in cell G2. =LEFT(F21,LEN(F2)-1)
5. Copy and Paste Cell G2 to the remaining cells in Column G.
6. Since column G contains formulas using values from column F, if we delete column F, we will receive an error message.
8. So now we want to convert the formulas in column G to values in column H.
9. Starting with cell G2, select all the cells in column G that have data.
10. Right mouse click copy.
11. Select the corresponding cells in column H.
12. Right mouse click Paste Special.
13. Select Values.
14. Select OK.
15. Now column H contains the correct values.
16. Delete columns F and G.
17. Name the new column F “Experience”
18. Done.
Oops the formula had an error.
Here’s the correct formula.
=LEFT(F2,LEN(F2)-1)
Will Core Curriculum be discussed at this type of forum?
If you bring it up, it will.
If you want to advocate for something useful for your children, advocate for taping CUSD 300 Board meetings and having them placed online so you can view at your leisure policy discussions that affect your child’s education.
Ask the legislators to make it a state law that school board meetings should be taped on archived on the district website, if they have a website.
That would be money well spent.
Transparency.
Most other boards the size of CUSD 300 tape their meetings and archive them on the district website.
Incidentally, believe it or not, some school districts in Illinois don’t even have a website.
Lots of people in a uproar about Common Core.
While it’s good to be involved, where was everyone for the last 40 years?
Most people don’t know what was happening in the district or classroom before common core was implemented.
The absolute best answer would be competition.
You get x number of dollars to spend at the school of your choice.
No amount of regulation can fix the currently under-performing monopoly in local public school districts.
As you can see above the salaries are very good and the benefits are typically better and the pensions
are Rolls Royce.
A retired teacher or administrator typically earns back their lifetime pension contribution in 1 – 3 years, typically closer to 1 year.
The ROI is unreal.