I write to my fellow River Forest neighbors as the dust settles on the lengthy River Forest District 90 teacher contract negotiations. Recently, resident Steve Goldhaber published an essay in Viewpoints titled, “Look up, River Forest,” reminding us that despite our issues, we live in a great village. Steve called on us to look up, and take in a wider perspective and appreciate the good. I concur.
That said, I have concerns about the financial future of our River Forest schools, and I seek greater action, vigilance and community engagement to keep our schools top-notch and thriving. To call out the worries, does not denigrate the schools. Calling out the need for action bolsters the likelihood that our schools will not just survive, but soar.
Our teachers, nationwide, should be paid a worthy wage. While the job has morphed in so many ways, the underlying passion for students carries the day, and is what we all value most in our D90 schools. It would be hard to argue that the teachers are not the most important factor in student success. As the board and administration faced the fiduciary responsibilities entrusted to them, the community also understood the need to notably increase teachers’ salaries and working conditions over the next years of this contract. My gratitude extends to so many of you for engaging in the long journey to an equitable and earnestly considered contract agreement. For the moment I believe we are OK.
I am however left with a longing to discuss the larger issues that will continue to face our district. We live in a relatively land-locked village, with little access to economic development opportunities. In short we will always increase teacher’s salaries (largest portion of the budget), but have non-commensurate ability to increase revenue to meet those salaries. Our levers include but are not limited to: restrained and thoughtful bond issuance (borrowing); constant cost reconfiguration in a timely manner; and planned thoughtful restrained tax increase (referenda). Commercial and residential development may be a revenue source, but not one the school community has championed in recent years.
Over the last 15 years, D90’s costs have grown (new FTE, new programming, and increased special services). This has been matched somewhat with small measures, relying heavily on bond issue or borrowing to close the gap. The tax revenue from the Town Center and the Sheridan senior facility (now Sunrise) has also helped. Nevertheless D90 has run operational deficits in most of the previous 10 years, summarized as an average of $1M per year. Current projections beginning in the 2028 school year show deficits doubling to $2M+ in the subsequent years. This is neither sustainable nor acceptable. While the school board has attempted to address deficit reduction initiatives since 2023 and had it added to the district’s strategic goals since fall of 2023, the board and administration have been unsuccessful in achieving deficit reduction in any of those years. I get it – deficit reduction in schools usually equates to headcount reduction and it requires a strong board working in concert with a strong school leadership team to contain costs. It’s not a job many sign up for.
Of course a referendum to raise taxes for schools is always an option. But it takes time, courage, and an understanding public who highly value education and see it as the lifeblood of the community and a guarantee on rising home values. Keeping tax revenue commensurate with the spend is an art. Further exacerbating the limited appetite for raising homeowners’ taxes is that our high school is also raising money from the same constituent base, to address facility issues long put off, and our library, our village, our township and park district have needs too.
Raising taxes need not fall fully on the shoulders of homeowners. Partnering closely with the village, we could meaningfully champion thoughtful, continual commercial growth along our main corridors and housing growth as well. Not one-shot wonders, but a continual strategic growth initiative supported by planning.
Perhaps there is more we could do to ensure that in the next teacher negotiations (a mere three years away) we have less fiscal worry. My hope is that long after I’m out of this bird’s-eye view to D90, those following us look fondly at our efforts to vigilantly and actively pull all fiscal levers to keep our schools thriving.
My hope is that we get engaged and embark on this effort today. How? We simultaneously push for thoughtful cost containment and modest planned tax raise and partner closely with our village in pursuit of village development projects that reflect our village’s character and finally that we modestly borrow as necessary – more for capital improvement than to meet operational deficits.
We are a village with vast people resources and creativity. I’m convinced this is possible. For today I’m taking Goldhaber’s advice: “Walk outside. Take a breath. Look up, River Forest, look up.”
Kristine Mackey is a member of the District 90 Board of Education.