Voice of the People, Oct. 07

October 07, 2012
  • Debt issues.
Debt issues. (Nancy Ohanian)

Debt issues

As our legislators in Illinois begin to draft and refine legislation to address the teacher pension fund debt issues, two related factors also need to be considered with respect to public school funding and the state budget.

First is the equity of public-school funding in Illinois. In many school districts throughout our state, the local property tax is the primary source of funding for public schools. Where a child lives in Illinois often determines the quality of his or her education in a public school. Public-school-funding formulas currently in place have not adequately addressed the equity of school funding in Illinois and the over-reliance on local property taxes to fund public schools.

Second, a majority of the funding for special-education services in public schools throughout Illinois is assumed by local school districts. When the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was passed in 1975, our U.S. Congress understood that it was creating a law that would have increased financial impact at the state and local level, and agreed to pay for the excess cost of educating a child with a disability compared to a general-education student. In the 37-year history of IDEA, the federal contribution to school districts in Illinois, and to school districts in the other states throughout our country, has fallen far short of the congressional commitment to IDEA. Local school districts and state budgets have been forced to absorb the shortfall.

Equity in the funding of public education in Illinois, with less reliance on the local property tax, and full federal funding of IDEA are two necessary components of solving the debt issues as they relate to public schools and employee pensions in Illinois.

David Nemec, Lake Forest

Time for change

I have been following your editorials regarding the problems Illinois has with the funding of the pensions and how the elected politicians have not done (will not do?) anything to correct the situation. I am sure that your evaluation process on which candidate will include how that person will solve the problem if elected.

But perhaps what needs to be stressed to the voters of this state is that the people whom they have elected in the past are not making the hard decisions and that all of them need to be replaced! The voters can make a difference if they are willing to make changes and get rid of these incompetent individuals who have failed all of us.

I suppose that term limits would be beneficial, but right now, let's start fresh, clean slate, start over. Change is good! I do not believe it can get any worse.

— John C. Dawson, Huntley

Wi-Fi market

Chicago's plan for municipal Wi-Fi is both slim on details and suffering from many of the same problems that have plagued municipal Wi-Fi systems wherever they have been attempted

. Municipal Wi-Fi systems in cities like San Francisco, Boston, Houston and Seattle have all struggled to remain viable, and have all faced significant cost overruns and little interest from customers. Instead of spending millions of taxpayer dollars on a muni Wi-Fi system that is not needed, Chicago should focus on creating a vibrant market that would encourage telecom companies to provide these services privately, through competitive tax rates and business regulations.

Matthew Glans, senior policy analyst, Heartland Institute, Chicago

Reacting to violence

I was intrigued by the response from many regarding the substitute referees in the National Football League. Wouldn't it be wonderful if a similar response/outrage and interest occurred when there are murders and violence among our young people in Chicago? Perhaps if there was, we could generate the passion to do something collectively about the tragedy of violence and not just about the referees in the NFL.

Christine M. Melone, Des Plaines

What you know

I appreciated Tribune reporter Ron Grossman's commentary on the entitlements of the wealthy ("Reflections on the money trap; The strange handicap of being rich, as told by one who briefly was," Perspective, Sept. 30).

I attended Lake Forest College when he taught there. At the time there were very wealthy students who had attended private preparatory schools and those of us who had done well in high school and were there on work-study programs. The expectation was that those of us on work-study would lift the cumulative grade-point average of the college because the wealthy students were known to pay little attention to their studies. They figured it was not what you know but whom you know; their parents had connections and they had trust funds.

The rest of us worked at getting on the dean's list despite working one or more jobs. I always thought the rich kids (or "preppies") were the losers because they squandered the very expensive and excellent education their parents were giving them by drinking, going to parties every night and sleeping through their classes.

Silly me! I was the loser all along because I never made enough money working all those jobs to pay taxes. Still, I think we've seen from the last Republican administration that what you know is important when you're the president of the United States.

Michelle Montag Lowy, Springfield

Religious speech

Many countries are calling for limits on religious speech, especially following the recent riots in Muslim countries that were set off by a video trailer that few have ever seen. If this restriction on free speech were to be instituted, would that mean that Islamic media would not be able to publish, film or display the negative comments and images that are frequently issued by them for Christian, Jewish and other faiths? Who will decide what is acceptable and not acceptable? Beware the slippery slope.

Jane Keill, Glenview