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" Glory and I can agree on one thing - I, too, will NEVER again vote yes on any Unit Five referendum. Even, if they threw the political mob boss bums out and got their house in order, I would still wait 20 years to let them make up for all the damage they have done to generation after generation of students before I would even consider giving them another dime. I would vote for Merger with D87 in a heartbeat if their administration was retained and Five's fired. "

" I'll vote NO on any referendum as well as my neighbors who are taxed to the brink. I've no kids in school and have paid through the nose for years. $2000 a year goes to unit 5 and i get a 1.2% raise while they get even more for 9 months. "

" OK - let's just cut all sports & extra curr activities. Maybe the negative people will be quiet. Then let's focus on the classroom. Do you know how many portable classrooms U5 has? What will happen in 3 years if we do not pass a referendum? Try even more portables. What a horrible atmosphere to learn in every day. I will vote YES & I have no children in this district. I support education that is what makes society better. "

" And if you have specific questions that Google can't help you answer...contact the CFO. He would probably love to answer your questions related to specifics. Of course you would then need to base your opinions on facts rather than assumptions. "

" Woodford...interesting that you are telling me to stop slamming folks. From your continued comments on Unit 5 issues I would say that you have been the one continually slamming others. Superior tone is not accurate...I just wish people would back up their opinions with facts. All of this information is available at everyone's fingertips. Just as you use the internet to reply, you can gather any public info. "

" I cannot speak for swimming but our football team has used 3 buses this year. We Chartered the others at our own expense. As for the lights let us have the gate money & I bet we would come out ahead by paying the bills ourselfs. At a minummin we as a team should at the very least get 1/2 of that fee back into our program. I will never vote yes for another referendem again. "

" To 'The WonderBoy" - when you get done slamming folks, perhaps you could just enlighten us on how much in outstanding bonds the District has now, and what they had out 10 years ago. I don't know. Your superior tone indicates that you MUST have all of this information at your fingertips. Some of us are just trying to provide information; not one-upmanship. It's hard to figure out the actual spending without seeing what in business would be the balance sheet listing long and short term liabilities. "

" Are light bills for football games taken from the expense column for sports or from the general fund? And the chlorine and heaters for the pools? ...the busses for the away games? Does that get added into the "expense" column for sports or taken from general funds? I don't care how much was raised privately or from Activity Fees, the fact is, all sports are heavily subsidized at the expense of rest of the student population. It would take the swim team a long time to raise $6 million to build a pool, and much longer to be self-sufficient in operating and doing the maintenance on them. How much on legal fees is being spent now due to the crappy roof on the pool buildings? I'm betting that isn't figured into the "expense" of having the pools either. How about the cost of bus drivers for those sports teams? Or the cost of fuel to drive all those athletes around? Don't even try to tell me sports are self-supporting - yet another Unit Five misinformation campaign. How about the added insurance for those pools? "

" Thank you Wonder Boy. It's about time someone who has actually done research replied in here to the naysayers. I try; but people like Woodford Pundit and My thoughts will never listen. There is no way Tri-Valley can be compared to Unit 5-much smaller district. Did anyone out there attend the board meeting last night and see the enrollment charts that were put out? Take a look; maybe then you'll see that classroom space is running low, and it will only get worse. "

" One last thing...don't even compare Tri-Valley. The district has less than 10% of the students, more administrators per pupil, 3 schools TOTAL, and not nearly the same diversity of students to educate. Apples and oranges, as they say. Tri-Valley is a great school district, but Unit 5 puts up the same test scores, spends the same per student, and continues to deal with absurd growth rates...all while spending nearly the same per pupil. "

" And for those of you who continually complain about Unit 5 having too many and highly overpaid administrators, paying teachers too much, etc...check the facts. The rhetoic that some have on this site is meaningless and not based on reality. Unit 5 teachers and administrators are paid well below the state average and Unit 5 has less administrators than the state average. Check the district report card...and thanks for playing. "

" Hey Woodford...perhaps you should drive over to McLean County and you will see what the borrowing has done. There are these crazy looking things called "schools" that have been built with that borrowing. Word on the street is that they cost millions to build and that increased EAV doesn't provide enough initial capital to pay for the construction. Maybe if the state actually paid their portion or if there was a capital improvement budget... "

" We live in Illinois...check how our state compares to others in regards to education. Tri-Valley runs more smoothly? Well, it is about 10x smaller. Unit 5 is an admired and well respected district throughout the state and is going through relatively unprecedented growth. "

" Unit 5 rides on the backs of Athletics, they buy NO I repeat NO uniforms. In case you havent done your homework as I have the Unit has taken in 2.3 million $$$ in Activity fees last year only to give back ea HS 125,000.00 & ea JH 1000.00 my calculator says thats only $253,000.00 ask where the rest goes you will be told in the general fund or lies about officals as I have been when we all know the officals pay are from the gate money on the next line of the budget. At Normal West we did major fund raising all summer to put our football players in badly needed new uniforms. The Unit is broke LOL. "

" No "

" I'm guessing that the referendum will pass because so many people in town don't realize how Unit 5 has mismanaged their funds for so long. Unit 5 is inefficient, disorganized, bloated, and overrun by politics. Getting more money won't solve their problems because the problem isn't that they don't have enough money, it's that they waste what they have. We moved from Unit 5 to Tri-Valley and it is amazing how much more sensible and efficient things are here. The education is better and we don't have the waste and political mess Unit 5 has. I think people who have only been in the Unit 5 school district don't realize how poorly run and wasteful things are there because they don't have anything to compare it to. " "

" Do I get my VOTE NO signs. "

" Just a point of clarification on Unit 5- the student population has indeed gone up by 40% over the past 10 years. The EAV has risen over 100% and the EAV per student has risen as well. THe RATE has risen, too. In other words, the tax base grew on its own to cover the increase. Expenditures were also up 100% over the ten years. I can't tell you what the borrowing (bonds) has done over that period. THey don't talk about it much. "

" Need cash flow? Stop spending every red cent before it even reaches your hand. Stop bloating the top levels with layer after layer of overpaid and incompetent administrative positions then spending more money on outside consultants to do the job of the people you just hired. Make a budget and stick with it instead of trying to stick it to the taxpayers every chance you get. Stop wasting taxpayer money on swimming pools and football uniforms. "