Sunnybrook School District #171 serves students in pre-school to grade 8 from south Lansing and north Lynwood. We are located in South Suburban Cook County. The current enrollment is 1208 students. Our Equalized Assessed Evaluation as of 2000 stood at 101,493,478. We are a multi-cultural district. Our student population is represented by 50% Caucasian, 45% African-American and 5% Hispanic. 

The Property Tax Limitation Act has made our district more dependent on State Aid in order to maintain our educational programs. However, with a decrease of 10% in our A.D.A. over the past couple of years, we have experienced hard times. The decreased A.D.A. has proven to be a temporary phenomenon. We are now experiencing an increase in our A.D.A. However, the loss of revenue resulting from the tax cap (conservative estimate - $160,000 annually) and the decrease in State Aid has adversely affected us in our present operation. Programs such as reading literacy, transitional primary grade levels and programs to help the non- special education slow learner have been put on hold. Our district, like many in the South Suburbs, has a high mobility rate with a high percentage of new students enrolling in our, district needing special services. Quite frankly, we need more financial help to present quality educational programs to all our children and, especially, to the slow learner. 

Last year, the State gave a one-time "double whammy" payment to our district. We were able to use these funds to run a reading literacy program, maintain smaller class sizes, improve our technology programs, in-service our certified staff and attract quality teachers. This year, without "double whammy" money, all the aforementioned have been reduced or eliminated. 

The "double whammy" payment would solve our problem if it were done on an annual basis. Setting the tax cap at simply 5% instead of the CPI or 5%, whichever is less, would also be a step in the right direction. 

We have always practiced fiscal responsibility. We feel legislation affecting school finance should not burden school districts operating with fiscal integrity.