My name is Eric Davis. I’m asking for your vote on April 9 for the District 200 (OPRF High School) board. A recent Wednesday Journal editorial [Time for D200 to act, Our Views, Jan. 30] and Ken Trainor’s column [What’s up with District 200? Viewpoints, Jan. 30] about the Collaboration for Early Childhood’s funding request to D200 both illustrate that the experience and creativity I offer are needed.
Experience matters. Government budgeting and levy cycles; public employee agreements; and developing, modifying and communicating a clear policy structure are not simple, but they can be handled well.
I have served as an Oak Park Township Trustee for nearly eight years. I’m proud to say that the township has received the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) award for excellence in budgeting every year that I have served.
I have the experience but also a record of creativity. I attended and spoke at the D200 meeting about the Collaboration’s request. I quoted John Williams of Township Youth Services, who told me that if you spend your time fishing drowning kids out of the river, at some point you have to head upstream and try to keep them from falling into the water in the first place. That’s what the Collaboration is for.
This is central to why I’m running. I testified in support of the Collaboration because I helped lead the township board to embrace the same new idea. Our Youth Services programs have historically been focused on at-risk teens, and it remains that way. Yet a couple of years ago I was able to help the township find a way to fit a program funding request from the Collaboration within our policies of financial accountability and relevance to our mission.
So we need experienced leadership, but we also need creativity and a willingness to embrace new directions. Those qualities are partly why I received the 2012 Excellence in Public Service Award from Township Officials of Illinois (trustee division). I also helped lead the development of our new Senior Center. Creating a whole new facility was something unusual for most of my township colleagues and yet we did it — and within budget.
I’m an architect who has been designing and managing publicly-funded school projects for 30 years. OPRF has important challenges still unmet, new solutions to be sought, and my experienced creativity can help.
Take the fund balance issue: Clearly there are more options available. If the D200 board drove to LaSalle Street, rolled down the window and announced, “We have a $100 million fund balance!” you would see five bankers lined up at the curb with creative ways to leverage those funds for necessary near-term needs while still meeting obligations. Yet so far we have not seen enough willingness to think outside the building — or the box.
In addition to serving on the township board, I have served on multiple volunteer committees at high school.
We have a senior there now, and a freshman this fall.
I offer experience, creativity and commitment to the school. You have four votes in this election. I’m asking for one of them.
Eric Davis of Oak Park is a candidate for the District 200 Board of Education.