Jim Szczepaniak is community relations director for Niles Township High School District 219, Skokie, and a member of the Illinois chapter of NSPRA.
As soon as the first property tax phone call came into the office on July 3, I knew there would be many more calls to follow after tax bills arrived in Niles Township. The questions and comments from homeowners were variations of the same concerns:
• Why does my tax bill keep going up even though the value of my home is going down?
• Why do I have to pay so much to the high schools when my kids graduated 20 years ago?
• Why do I have to pay so much when I don’t have any kids?
• What are you spending all this money on?
Given the complexity of the property tax system in Illinois, the sheer number of local taxing bodies, and the intricacies of school funding formulas, no simple answers exist. Yet, homeowners and business owners who pay the lion’s share of our revenues (78 percent of Niles THSD 219’s revenues in 2011) deserve substantive answers. And, in a district that has a high operating expense per student, our constituents want to know if they are getting good value for their tax dollars.
One of the main challenges public schools face in today’s economy is how to best communicate how schools use taxpayer dollars to educate children and prepare them for a successful life.
At District 219, we use a number of ways to inform the public what we are doing with their tax dollars (and why):
• Provide context about the key strategies to make students college- and career-ready.
• Provide an opportunity for parents, students and community members to have meaningful input on curriculum and programs.
• Promote a common understanding about how we teach and learn — and changes being made to better educate students.
Context for key strategies
District 219 serves about 5,000 students from four municipalities at three high schools. The board of education’s goal is to increase the academic achievement of every one of those students.
Four years ago, in order to provide clear direction to administration and staff, the board adopted a five-year plan with five key strategies:
• Advance and integrate Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and literacy across the curriculum.
• Guarantee a rigorous curriculum to prepare students for college, including a common final exam for each course.
• Offer anywhere/anytime learning, in part by providing a netbook to every incoming freshman.
• Provide 21st century buildings with a capital plan that provides for future needs and ensures equity across buildings.
• Establish powerful partnerships with parents, local businesses and organizations, and community members.
These five strategies drive budget decisions and school improvement plans. Administrator evaluations and curriculum directors’ goals are tied to measurable progress in meeting these strategies. Principals engage teachers and staff in discussion about progress in the five areas during monthly building meetings and keep parents informed through monthly meetings with advisory councils.
We inform the wider community via a standing section on the district website (url.d219.org/5Year). Short videos highlight each of the strategies, accompanied by detailed explanations of each key priority. The same site also provides details of a local growth model to monitor individual students’ academic progress.
We also print and mail an annual community report that updates progress on the plan to each of the 38,000 residential postal addresses in Niles Township. Yes, an old-fashioned hard-copy sent via snail mail!
Research shows that while a number of dedicated parents follow school news via our web pages, principal blogs, web alerts and social media, taxpayers who do not have children in our schools cite local media as their chief source of news, followed by the publications they receive from the district. The report is available online at url.d219.org/annualrept.
Although a full 99 percent of our freshmen report having a home computer, 60 percent of our students speak a language other than English at home. We know anecdotally that many students whose parents are not proficient in English act as translators for school materials, which is another reason we decided to share hard-copy versions of important school information.
The timing of the community report is also important. When finalizing the 2012 publishing schedule, we had expected tax bills to arrive by August at the earliest since they were sent out later than scheduled the last three payment periods. We wanted our report to get to homes well in advance of the bills.
As it turned out, however, the same week the tax bills showed up in mailboxes, so did District 219’s annual community report. But it ended up being a good thing that the publication arrived alongside their tax statement: those of us who spoke with concerned taxpayers found it helpful to refer the callers to specific parts of the publication.
Meaningful input
“Community members rightfully expect us to spend tax dollars responsibly,” District 219 Board President Bob Silverman wrote in the most recent community report. “We have restructured programs for greater operating efficiency and are putting increased emphasis on making sure that our students are making the necessary academic progress in math, English, reading and science. Over the past three years we have maintained a balanced budget by reducing in some areas and reinvesting our resources in others.”
District 219’s restructuring decisions have included eliminating teaching, support and administrative positions, and making significant curriculum changes, such as consolidating classes in elective areas like fine arts and family and consumer sciences.
Almost everyone can agree it is a good thing to hire additional paraprofessionals to give struggling algebra students extra support, but what to cut to pay for the extra math resources engenders little consensus. For example, when the district considered eliminating courses, scores of vocal parents and students came to the board meeting, asking elected officials to eliminate something other than each person’s treasured specialty course. Board members sought to strike a delicate balance between offering a varied, robust curriculum and maintaining fiscal discipline.
These public discussions underscored that parents want to learn more about, and give their opinions on, the curriculum offered in schools. To honor that desire, and better take into account what parents, students and community members have to say about curriculum and programs, District 219 has formalized a process we call the “Annual Review of Programs.” Here’s how it works:
The administration solicits suggestions throughout the year for the annual review document from department directors, teachers, staff, parents and students. The document ensures that curricular programs are aligned with school board goals and the strategic plan in a fiscally responsible manner.
The first draft of the annual review is presented to the board in late August and then posted online and distributed throughout the school community. (See this year’s document at url.d219.org/ROP.)
We welcome input and suggestions from all constituent groups, including school and district committees, department and building meetings, student government, parent organizations and our elementary sender school districts. Anyone can comment via an online feedback form.
District 219 holds a town hall meeting in early November to solicit questions and comments from the public. Curriculum directors and administrators answer questions and provide explanation. All public and online comments are recorded and added to the document.
The administration presents a formal recommendation to the board in November, with time for public comment. The board takes final action in December.
One of this year’s review items includes a proposal from students and parents to begin the school year earlier so that the first semester ends before winter break, allowing students to relax over the holiday. The change also would provide 10 more days of instruction before students take Advanced Placement (AP) and ACT/PSAE exams. The teachers’ union made several proposals, including one to encourage more students to enroll in AP classes.
Common understanding
We highlight and explain the five key strategies when we talk with constituents outside school. For example, when residents point out that students are not scoring the highest in math on the ACT, we acknowledge their concern and let them know that one key strategy is to guarantee a rigorous curriculum. Then we explain exactly how we are revising math curriculum to better prepare students to succeed.
We try to avoid bureaucratic jargon, instead using clear language that is easily understood by the general public. Our most recent report documents how the structural changes we are making in math are leading to impressive gains in college readiness.
Several years ago, we realized that nearly a third of Niles’ students were in classes in which they had less than a 10 percent chance of meeting college readiness standards. Students who earned an “A” in a lower-level algebra course had roughly the same low probability of attaining college readiness as students earning a “D” in regular algebra.
In response, we eliminated the two lowest levels of freshman math and now require all freshmen to take regular algebra. Because the affected students need additional support to succeed, we require incoming freshmen with low math skills to take summer school courses to prepare them for algebra. We also offer an extension course — a second period of math — for those who will benefit from individualized instruction and pre-teaching of skills and concepts they’ll learn in algebra.
Early results project a 33 percent increase in the number of students who will be college-ready. One important caveat: we are in the early stages and must continue to measure results. But, keeping that in mind, this is news worth sharing with the community.
Given that the teaching and learning that takes place in our classrooms is the reason our schools exist, it is surprising that districts don’t provide more information about specific curricular initiatives to the wider community. Maybe that’s because we assume that the details don’t interest the average person or are too hard to explain.
But some constituents are very interested. A few of the concerned residents who contacted District 219 said they did not expect to get any real response, but just wanted to express their frustration about high taxes.
Instead, they got a cogent explanation about steps the district is taking to better prepare students for college. They were glad to hear the district acknowledges that we need to do a better job — and that we are working hard to find a way to do that. And that’s a very important message.