Peoria Public Schools

D150: Spending money for advice on how to spend money

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If this isn’t an example of bureaucratic inefficiency, I don’t know what is:

Over two years in both special education and Title I, District 150 is set to receive some $8.5 million, more than most of the area school districts’ funds combined.

District officials are still studying what it will be used for, but Mary O’Brian, the district’s special education director, said they are looking to upgrade a number of areas – not surprising given nearly one in four students at District 150 has been identified as having some special education need.

The district is looking at “assistive technologies,” which could range from special keyboards or listening devices for students with disabilities to software and training to run the new equipment. In fact, the district has hired an outside consulting firm to help direct the best use of the money. [emphasis added] There’s also talk about being able to use some of the money to pay for teacher’s aides.

So, we pay Mary O’Brian $93,840 a year as special education director, and she doesn’t know how best to spend the money earmarked for special education? They have to hire an outside consultant (at additional expense) to tell them how to spend the money? Are they just out there looking for ways to waste money? I suppose the next thing they’ll do is hire a consultant to help them choose the consultant that will tell them how to spend their money.

Hopeless.

General News

“America’s first step in a lasting return to the moon”

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From NASA:

On the moon we will develop technologies to survive in the infinite frontier of space, because the moon presents the same challenges we will encounter throughout the universe: harmful radiation, electrified dust, and extreme temperatures.

Just as a scout finds the safest way for expeditions on Earth, NASA will first send a robotic scout, called the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), to gather crucial data on the lunar environment that will help astronauts prepare for long-duration lunar expeditions.

LRO’s launch date is scheduled for no earlier than June 17, 2009. The spacecraft will spend at least a year in a low polar orbit approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) above the lunar surface, while its seven instruments find safe landing sites, locate potential resources, characterize the radiation environment, and test new technology.

The LRO blasted off on an Atlas V rocket on Thursday, June 18, at 4:32 p.m. CDT:

It will reach the moon on Tuesday, June 23, at 4:43 a.m. CDT.

Annexation, City of Peoria, Comprehensive Plan

City must pursue higher density for new development

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I’ve been reading through the City of Peoria’s new draft Comprehensive Plan and started despairing when I hit page 51:

The density of the population of Peoria in the mid Twentieth Century will not return. The current demand by the majority of the population is for larger residential lots, more space between neighbors, and more open space. Current zoning requirements cause large parking areas to accompany commercial development, further reducing the overall density of the city.

If that statement is true, then we might as well put a sign on every entrance to the city that says, “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”

Studies have shown that densities less than 4 to 5 dwelling units per acre are unsustainable — in other words, the expense of providing services exceeds the revenues generated. (E.g., Cost of Sprawl [2005]; Figure 4, “Residential Service Costs,” p. 5) Peoria’s growth cells currently have 2.6 dwelling units per acre according to the city’s recent Growth Cell Strategy Report. If land mass is going to continue to increase faster than population growth, and if density is thus going to continue to decrease, then we’ve barely scratched the surface of our financial difficulties. Having land that costs more to maintain than it produces in revenue is a recipe for structural deficits that will be impossible to eliminate.

Reading on in the proposed Comp Plan:

If the attempt to re-populate many of the least dense areas of the city, some of the oldest neighborhoods in Peoria, is successful, the overall density may increase, or at least offset the increase in land area. Without the successful repopulation of older neighborhoods, the projected trend is for the overall population density to continue to decline in future years.

First of all, the “least dense areas of the city” are not the oldest neighborhoods, but the growth cells and far-flung annexations to the north and west. Secondly, what “attempt to re-populate . . . the oldest neighborhoods in Peoria”? I’m not aware of any serious attempt, although one would be welcomed. Thirdly, why not attempt to also increase density in the newer areas of town? No, not to the same level of density as the West Bluff. But isn’t it reasonable to require at least 4 or 5 dwelling units per acre for new subdivisions — or enough that they can pay for the services they consume?

Crime, Peoria Journal Star

Luciano charged with battery

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The Journal Star is reporting that their columnist and reporter Phil Luciano was officially charged with two counts of battery for allegedly hitting a man at a West Peoria bar. You can read the story here. “His first appearance is scheduled Wednesday in Peoria County Circuit Court.”

The question I have is this: Will the Journal Star print his booking photo? You can bet if Tom McIntyre or Bob Larson or Jamie Markley got picked up for getting in a bar fight, they’d run their pictures in a heartbeat — probably on the front page of the local section. Will the paper show a little favoritism to one of their own? The mug shot isn’t on the website… Stay tuned tomorrow to see if it shows up in the print edition.

UPDATE: Nope, they didn’t print it.

Peoria Public Schools

Here we go again: D150 overspending already

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District 150 recently voted to close Kingman, Irving, and Tyng schools — and a high school to be named later. This was supposed to save $11 million — and even that might not be enough, we were told. More drastic cuts may need to be made. Not only that, but the district had overspent for so long that they had no reserves, and they needed to issue $38 million in bonds to replenish those reserves and go on a fiscal diet.

Then last night, they voted to create three new schools:

The School Board on Monday unanimously approved a request for $25.5 million from the Public Building Commission of Peoria to build a math, science and technology academy, a career vocational and technical center as well as facilities for an alternative or nontraditional high school.

WCBU News added that they are planning to renovate and use existing buildings for these three schools.

But what about the $11 million in savings? How is it that just two months ago, the situation was so dire that we had to close four schools and increase class sizes, but now we can magically afford to reopen three other schools? Oh sure, the renovation costs are coming from the Public Building Commission (God forbid they not use every last penny of bonding capacity before this district’s five-year limited access to the PBC expires!). But those three buildings are still going to need staff and maintenance once they open — just like the schools that were closed. Aren’t they going to be eating up their savings? Aren’t they going to be overspending again, causing them to draw down their recently replenished reserves? Isn’t this setting up the district to be broke again in just a few years, like when they closed Blaine-Sumner and White, but then acquired the old Social Security office on Knoxville and renovated Blaine-Sumner for offices?

Don’t get me wrong. I have nothing against establishing these schools they talked about last night. These sounds like great additions. My questions is simple: How can they afford it? I thought they were broke. Either they were bluffing about the severity of their structural deficit when they voted to close four schools two months ago, or they are now bluffing about being able to afford the establishment of three new schools. They can’t have it both ways.

Nation/World

Netanyahu outlines terms for peace

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a speech yesterday outlining the conditions Israel would accept for there to be a separate Palestinian state. You can see the entire speech courtesy of the BBC via YouTube by clicking here, or read a transcript by clicking here.

In a nutshell, Netanyahu said Israel would accept a so-called two-state solution only if Palestinians recognize Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people with Jerusalem as Israel’s unified capital, and if the proposed Palestinian state were demilitarized. Of course, these terms were swiftly rejected by the Palestinians. The New York Times reports:

“Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about negotiations, but left us with nothing to negotiate as he systematically took nearly every permanent status issue off the table,” Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian negotiator, said in a statement. “Nor did he accept a Palestinian state. Instead, he announced a series of conditions and qualifications that render a viable, independent and sovereign Palestinian state impossible.”

Palestinian negotiators have long refused to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, contending that it would prejudge the refugees’ demand for a right of return and would be detrimental to the status of Israel’s Arab minority.

Or maybe the reason they refuse to recognize Israel as a Jewish state is because the Palestinian National Covenant calls for the complete elimination of Zionism. I believe this is what we would call an “impasse.”

Peoria County

Deficit? Oh, pshaw. Let’s rebuild BelWood!

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Peoria County, which has in the past been pretty fiscally conservative, is on a spending spree these days. You’d think they were the City of Peoria. After a successful advocacy campaign for a sales tax to help build a museum downtown, now they’ve decided to not even ask the voters if they want to rebuild BelWood Nursing Home; they’re just going to do it.

County Board Member Merle Widmer has a couple of posts on his blog that explain what happened and why it’s a bad idea:

BelWood: Safety Net or Local Nursing Home Competitor?
BelWood: Safety Net or Local Nursing Home Competitor? Part 2

Oh, and did I mention the County is looking at a $4 million deficit by year’s end, and they are looking for non-essential services to cut?

Of course, supporters of the project point out that the taxes received for BelWood can only be used for BelWood, so getting out of the nursing home business won’t give the County any more money to plug the deficit. No, all it will do is give the citizens of the County more money in their pockets that they’re not paying in taxes, and heaven knows we can’t have that. Apparently the goal is to cut non-essential services only when the overall size of government can be maintained. In other words, if getting out of the nursing home business benefits the county government, they’ll do it. If only benefits the county’s citizens, they won’t. That’s the way government operates.

Amtrak

Amtrak study delayed… again

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Amtrak LogoIt was back in 2007 that we first started talking about Amtrak and IDOT doing a feasibility study on a possible Chicago-Peoria route. The study was going to be completed by late 2007, then early 2008. Then there were a number of delays. By the end of 2008, Amtrak/IDOT officials were promising it would be done by March 2009. Then they pushed it back to “summer.” Now we’ve been informed that the Amtrak study has been pushed back to “at least” this fall.

Over the past several years, ridership has risen dramatically and interest in establishing new routes has increased; plus, there’s a serious effort underway to establish high-speed rail service. However, all this interest in passenger rail in addition to existing freight traffic is starting to put a strain on capacity, especially around Chicago. So, some capacity studies have been ordered (i.e., a study to see if another train can be added to some already busy segments of the route, or whether those segments are at capacity), which is adding more time and expense to the feasibility study.

One idea that has been bandied about is setting up a rail shuttle between Peoria and Normal. Such a shuttle wouldn’t be a direct connection between Peoria and Chicago, but rather a connection to the train depot in Normal, from which one could connect to a Chicago-bound or St. Louis-bound train.

I’m skeptical of this idea. The amount of time it would take to travel between Peoria and Normal, plus the layover, plus the hassle of switching trains — I just don’t believe that such a shuttle would attract enough ridership to make it feasible. Peoria is the third-largest metropolitan statistical area in the state. There’s really no reason we shouldn’t have direct passenger rail service to Chicago.

City Council, City of Peoria, Peoria Public Schools

Vallas returning to Peoria

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Education reformer Paul Vallas, who last visited Peoria in late 2007, is returning this Saturday morning to meet with Peoria City Council members at Mayor Ardis’s request. The Council has scheduled a full-day retreat this Saturday at the Peoria Civic Center’s Lexus Room starting at 9 a.m. The agenda for the meeting includes several guest speakers including Vallas, a representative from Mesirow Financial, and Heart of Illinois United Way Vice President of Community Investment Don Johnson.

Ardis says he didn’t ask Vallas to speak on any specific topic, but about reforming schools in general. “His experience in successfully reforming urban school districts should make his comments informative and relevant,” Ardis said Tuesday.

The last time Vallas was in town (also at Ardis’s request), the Journal Star reported (12/22/2007):

Vallas said if District 150 were to engage in reform efforts, he would spend his spring break in Peoria working with the district. He would recruit one or more persons to work on the project locally, and he would come back to Peoria periodically to monitor the progress.

He said Ardis has agreed to pay for his gas expenses driving to and from Peoria, along with occasional overnight hotel stays during his road trips.

But despite the City’s efforts to help improve the City’s schools, District 150 said, “no thanks.” Since then, the District has shortened the school day for several Wednesdays at a number of primary schools for no justifiable reason, fired their Comptroller/Treasurer for undisclosed reasons, decided to close four schools (including a high school yet to be named), and issue bonds for $38 million to dig out of a budget deficit. No need for outside advice from a proven reformer here, huh?