McHenry County High Schools Making Top 100 Illinois List

From Chicago Now Staff Blog: Niche’s 2018 Best Public High Schools rankings are “based on rigorous analysis of key statistics and millions of reviews from students and parents using data from the U.S. Department of Education.” … Continue reading

Continued Discussion on School Consolidation

In the “Here we go again” category is consolidation of schools. These comments by Lakewood’s Steve Willson stimulates me to re-post the analysis I did seven years ago under his reflections: I’m so tired of this “consolidate the schools” argument. … Continue reading

State Senate Candidates’ Night – Part 7 – Protecting Students from Gun Violence

Continuing coverage of the League of Women Voters Candidates’ Night for those seeking State Senate seats looking at answers to the question of how to protect students from gun violence. And the candidates had a minute to answer the question My … Continue reading

State Senate Candidates’ Night – Part 4 – Real Estate Taxes, Cap or Reduce, How Finance Schools & Libraries

Continuing coverage of the League of Women Voters Candidates’ Night for those seeking State Senate seat looking at answers to the question of whether property taxes should be capped or reduced and “how do you propose to help schools and libraries–two … Continue reading

Governor Vetoes Bill That Would Make It Harder for School Districts to Get Rid of Unfunded Mandates

Here’s the veto message from Governor Bruce Rauner on House Bill 1262 sponsored by Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie and Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant: Today I veto House Bill 1262 from the 100th General Assembly, which walks back the progress that was … Continue reading

Local Pensions Cause Huge Real Estate Tax Increases

An article by Austin Berg of  the Illinois Policy Institute: WHY YOUR PROPERTY TAX BILL IS SO HIGH, AND HOW TO FIX IT Less than 50 cents of every additional property tax dollar over the last 20 years went to … Continue reading

Pensions and Property Taxes

An article by Austin Berg of  the Illinois Policy Institute: WHY YOUR PROPERTY TAX BILL IS SO HIGH, AND HOW TO FIX IT Less than 50 cents of every additional property tax dollar over the last 20 years went to … Continue reading

Jack Franks Files Freedom of Information Requests with School Districts Asking for Seven Years’ Data

McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks, having met with some school district officials privately June 6th, has sent our Freedom of Information requests seeking the following information from each school district for 2010 through 2017: The total number of district … Continue reading

How Did McHenry County Schools Spend Our 2016 Tax Dollars?

Here’s a table that shows school superintend and teacher salaries for McHenry County school districts, as well as class sizes. A Friend of McHenry County Blog did the heavy lifting in manipulating this data. You will note that Marengo-Union and … Continue reading

2016 McHenry County Schools Statistics – Property Tax Comparisons

Right after this year’s real estate tax bills arrived in mailboxes, McHenry County Blog showed how school districts’ tax levies compared with the previous two years’ levies. A Friend of McHenry County Blog did the heavy lifting in manipulating this … Continue reading

2016 Statistics for McHenry County Schools – Demographic Data

A while ago, a commenter asked for more information about schools than whether and how much they increased or decreased taxes since last year. While data for 2017 is not available, that for 2016 is. A Friend of McHenry County … Continue reading

Franks Replies to School Superintendents’ Counteroffer to Meeting Request

Yesterday, McHenry County Blog published the press release McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks released about his invitation to nine school superintendents and board presidents to meet with him on Thursday. The superintendents said a number had scheduling conflicts, but … Continue reading

School Superintendent’s Reply to Jack Franks’ Command Performance, aka, Publicity Pop

McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks posted the following press release after it was published in the Northwest Herald. Franks asked for a meeting right after property tax bills would be received. Problem with that is Franks would have had … Continue reading

Bill Passes State Senate Mandates 8th Graders Must Have “Comprehensive Knowledge” of “Roles and Contributions of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People”

Here’s a bill that has passed the Illinois Senate last week. Now it is sent to the House for consideration. Read what your State Senators saw, if they only read a summary of the bill: Amends the School Code. With … Continue reading

Trump Mocks School Gun Free Zones, Urges “Hardened” Schools, Armed Trained Teachers

I can’t give you the exact quotes, but President Donald Trump just trashed the nationwide concept of “gun free” school zones. He argued that schools should be come “hardened sites” which give prospective shooters the knowledge that there might be … Continue reading

Jeanne Ives Plays to Those Who Don’t Know How Salary Costs Would Increase If Dual Districts Became Unit Districts

I am so tired of people who don’t do a cost-benefit study before advancing government reorganization proposals. There was Jack Franks, who bragged at the savings of allowing townships to take over township cemetery districts. Yes, there would be some … Continue reading