THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2007
Dist. 64 Presentations Show Residents Where Money Goes
By DWIGHT ESAU
Journal Reporter
The state of Park Ridge-Niles School District 64---it's different now from what it was a year ago.
A successful tax rate referendum approved last April changed that state from the darkness of financial deficits and budget cuts to the light of financial stability and renewed financial confidence.
The district is now making a major effort to inform the Park Ridge-Niles community how additional funds for education are already benefiting students this fall. A series of presentations by Superintendent Dr. Sally Pryor is planned for next Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 14-15.
On noon on Wednesday in the district's offices in the Hendee Educational Service Center, Pryor will give a brief presentation to realtors in the community.
At 9 a.m. on Thursday, she will make a similar presentation to a group of community leaders, also at the Hendee Center.
At noon Thursday, she will provide the same information to the public in the Park Ridge Public Library's first floor meeting room.
Informal question-answer sessions will follow each presentation.
A majority of district voters approved a 44-cent increase in the district's limiting property tax rate last April. The district will start receiving the higher level of funds this action will generate starting early in 2008.
The successful vote already has led the district to cancel more than $1.2 million in budget cuts planned earlier for the 2007-08 school year, restore class sizes to lower levels, and permit expansion of many intervention and customized educational programs for specific groups of students.
The district receives about 80% of its revenue from property taxes, and current tax caps instituted in Cook County by the Illinois General Assembly restrict school districts from raising taxes by more than 5% or the amount of the current Consumer Price Index (CPI) whichever is less. Larger increases can only be done with the approval of voters in a referendum.
District 64 serves all of Park Ridge and a small portion of Niles near Emerson Middle School. It currently has 4,300 students in seven schools in grades K-8. Recent enrollment growth has leveled off.