Cook County School District 130 serves a diverse population of more than 3,800 students in Pre-Kindergarten through Grade S. Our district serves a significant number of minority, poverty and limited English speaking children. We truly believe that all children can learn, but recognize that teaching children With diverse needs takes special skills, talents and resources. Over the past ten years the needed resources have not been available, and the children we serve continue to be shortchanged.

1. The chart below illustrates the growth in the number of poverty students in School District 130 since 1990. During the 1980's, our "poverty" count based on the 1980 census was approximately 640. That number equaled about 18% of the students compared to the actual figure of 39% eligible for free lunch. After the 1990 census, our "poverty" count decreased to 521, or 13.5% of the student population while our free lunch count has increased to more than 60%. 

Based on the obvious inaccuracy of using the census information, I urge you to abandon the federal 1 0-year census as a measure of a district's poverty and use current, accurate information available in the eligible students for free and reduced price lunches. 

2. Each day, 2,150 students are transported to and from school an 88 bus runs. In order to reduce the cost of busing, our schools have four (4) staggered starting and ending times over 75 minutes. Buses are regularly used for three (3) successive runs each morning and afternoon. In addition, approximately 425 special education and pre-kindergarten students are transported daily. In 1994, transportation was drastically cut and service is currently provided only in designated hazardous areas. 

Last year, our cost for transportation was $1.5 million and revenue was $1.2 million. Expenses exceeded revenues by $275 thousand in 1999 and it is anticipated that there will be an even greater deficit in FY01. It is critical that schools be able to generate 100% of their need to provide safe transit to and from school for all students. 

3. After the most recent school reform legislation, the School District 130 Board of Education instituted a very stringent promotion policy. Students are required to meet standards in reading, mathematics and attendance in order to be promoted to the next grade. Rather than selecting a few "benchmark" grades, our policy is implemented at every grade level, one through eight. With the potential for retention of nearly 1 0% of the student population, a number of special programs were instituted to assist students. 

Title I and Reading Improvement monies have been used to assist in providing a Saturday Bridge Program, expansion of Reading Recovery, and primary literacy groups for students who cannot be served by Reading Recovery. However, an after school homework help program and an extensive summer school program to provide the mandated 90 hours of compensatory summer instruction for 275 students were not funded. 

The Board of Education and communities of School District 130 are committed to excellence, but must be given the necessary resources to achieve that level of success. 

4. School District 130 has 700 students in a transitional bilingual program. Our extraordinary costs for Bilingual Education were $591,096 in FY2000. Revenues received for bilingual services in FY2000 were $214,533, only 36% of our actual need. Our program transitions students from their native language into English within the suggested time parameters, but these services are clearly an under- funded mandate. 

5. Special Education serves 770 students in School District 130. Fifty-six (56) full time personnel are employed to provide services to these students. Personnel costs (including benefits) for special education range from $31,000 to more than $60,000 per teacher. The state personnel reimbursement for special education staff is $8,000 per teacher, regardless of our cost. 

Funding of this and all other categorical programs must be addressed.

6. Over the last 3 years, the District 130 Board of Education has made an effort to reduce class size. With the implementation of our district's new promotion standards, the full implementation of the Illinois Learning Standards and the increasingly diverse nature of our student population, a reduction in class size was necessary to begin to better reach each child enrolled. 

In 1999, we were fortunate to receive a Capital Development Board grant in order to construct three new school facilities, but in the interim period we are renting 20 classrooms from a neighboring school district. By taking advantage of the federal Class Size Reduction grant in both FY00 and FY01, we have been able to lower class size at Grade 3 to less than 20 students per class. Class sizes across the grade levels continue to be higher than the state average, even in schools with significant need. 

7. More than $50 million in commercial property in School District 130 is currently in several Tax Increment Financing districts. We currently collect taxes on this property at a level of about $1 million.

At $114,722 Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV) per pupil, we rank number 203 in the metro Chicago area. Our current tax rate is $3.826 and ranks 46 in this same area. 

District 130 citizens are clearly supporting their schools. We need an adequate funding level from the State of Illinois to better match what the local taxpayers are contributing to financial support of our schools.

8. Teacher salaries in School District 130 are competitive with elementary districts in our area. They are not competitive with elementary districts across the metropolitan area, and significantly below the high school districts in our area. 

According to the 1999 School Report Card for School District 130, the average teacher salary in School District 130 was 9.8% less than other elementary districts across the state. Similarly, administrative salaries in 1999 were 10.8% less than the state average for elementary districts. If school districts in the south triad of Cook County are to remain competitive in obtaining teachers, our salaries must be competitive.

9. 78.9% of the 1998 budget in District 130 was spent on operating expenses as compared to 84% across the state. 13.2% of the 1998 budget was spent for repayment of bonds and interest, as opposed to the 5.1% state average. Because of the lack of adequate funding over the last decades, an excess of taxpayer's money must continue to be spent on debt. 

10. Operating expenditure per student in District 130 is consistently less than the state average. Unfortunately, the comparisons in the chart below do not take into consideration the higher cost of living in suburban Cook County or the special needs of our diverse student population.