State Rep. Jonathan Carroll
The acronym for tax-increment finance districts TIFs has become shorthand for a political money grab in the minds of many taxpayers. And for good reason.
For decades, too many mayors have treated the money generated by TIF districts as an economic-development tool to be wielded at their discretion, showering their largesse on favored neighborhoods and projects even if those recipients strained the TIF s original purpose. Another problem with TIFs, at least in Illinois, is that the governments that create them and the investors who benefit from them are not nearly accountable enough to taxpayers.
A new bill gaining momentum in Springfield seeks to fix the latter problem.
MORTON Tom Neeley has been a member of the Morton School Board since 1989.
His 32 years of service, among the longest of any school board member in the Peoria area, will increase by four years after he was elected unopposed earlier this month to a ninth term.
During that time, he s seen enormous changes in the technology used in schools, and the upheaval caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Neeley s legacy of service
Neeley s longevity on the Morton board is driven in large part by a decision he made after he returned home from the Vietnam War. He was drafted into the U.S. Army and served as a combat engineer during the war.
With union support, establishment candidates turn back critics of gradual school reopenings
Updated 4/7/2021 2:00 PM
Voters throughout the Northwest suburbs sent educators a message Tuesday for the most part endorsing the gradual reopening approach most districts have taken in response to the pandemic.
In school district after school district, candidates who put a priority on listening to the health experts were elected, apparently often with the help of teachers unions.
This was the case in Glenbard High School District 87, Stevenson High School District 125, Palatine-Schaumburg Townships District 211 and Northwest Suburban High School District 214.
But there were exceptions: In Arlington Heights Elementary District 25 and Barrington Unit District 220, voters split their choices between measured reopening candidates and those who were strongly critical of the remote learning environment.
Why pandemic drove so many challengers to run for school board Chanting Five days a week, Mary Anne and Kevin Sorensen of Aurora participate in a downtown Naperville rally by parents last month to urge school administrators to open schools on a full-time basis. Ryan Rayburn/for the Daily Herald
Stevenson High School students, parents and supporters rally at the Lincolnshire school for a return to in-person instruction in October. John Starks | Staff Photographer
Stevenson High School students, parents and supporters rally at the Lincolnshire school for a return to in-person learning in October. John Starks | Staff Photographer Students at Palatine High School pass through a temperature screening during the first day of hybrid learning in October.