Monday, February 27, 2006
February’s Sunset
At the instigation of the Chicago Tribune’s Eric Zorn, here are my nominations for February stories, noted and unnoted.
Big winners: School districts with local reporters who can’t find opponents to comment on their stories about the “need” for raising taxes or passing bond referendums. (It is my theory that, by assigning reporters to cover schools and other local governments, newspapers are sending a not-too-subtle message that these governments--and what their officials say--are important. This probably leads to giving schools, etc., the benefit of the doubt.)
Big losers: Tax hike opponents.
Overlooked stories:
(1) The almost total financing of school bond referendum campaigns by developers and school vendors.(When a partisan politician gets financed by vendors, newspapers call it “pay to play.”) This is a difficult story to write because the really skillful tax hikers start new committees for each election and collect the bulk of their money more than 30 days before election day. Collecting the case between January 1st and the third week of February means donor information does not have to be made public until March 7th. That’s when State Board of Election pre-election reports are due. By then, most beat reporters are too busy covering the “who hit whom” of the campaign to notice.
(2) How overmatched financially referendum opponents’ campaigns are.
(3) How year-round schools could increase the capacity of any school district’s buildings by one-third.
To see the rest of McHenry County Blog, click here.
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Re: media/ publishers/reporters/word crafting when it comes to school district tax increase referendums
Innocent or “crafted” words can change every story from reporting facts to reporting biased facts and questionably “accepted” facts, or the opinion of the media doing the coverage. What letters to the editor are printed or how they are edited is also at the mercy of the paper in question. Even the finest and best-intentioned editor must deal with being “human” when making decisions. Advertisers carry weight with the papers as well and certainly want the school district involved to seem glowing to avoid loss of profit.
When Florida resident alumni from D-300 speak it is doubtful anyone supporting the YES position will take issue with THEIR “outsider” status even as they demean across-the-street truth sharers in Illinois who are affected by EVERY district’s financial status. D-300 tax increase supporters are apparently SEEKING such “outsider” pro YES input.
A Feb. 28, 2006 on line surf through the DAILY HERALD, the NORTHWEST HERALD, and the SUBURBAN CHICAGO shows:
SUB. CHGO. - A letter from Geneta Daly, Summerfield, Fla., 1962 Dundee High School alum takies the legal right to Freedom of Speech re D-300’s pro tax increase stance – albeit from the Sunshine State far from Illinois taxpayers. Then in “D300 OKs teacher cuts” EXCERPT "Voting "yes" will increase property taxes. However, a "no" vote will lead to $5.6 million in far-reaching budget cuts for the 2006-07 academic year, which will eliminate — among other things — extracurricular activities and teachers” essentially says that no matter how much omitted revenue the tax increase opposition (or anyone other than the District staff) finds or how accurate or inaccurate District 300’s numbers are - they're going to chop things anyway if the vote is NO................ Makes you wonder if they'd chop them even if they won the $360m Powerball prize just to prove some sad/manipulative financial philosophy or power/turf “point”.
DAILY HERALD - In “Dist. 181 to lower levy by $5 million” - 181 is correcting its "erroneous" levy. I love this excerpt "Armonda declined to comment about whether she thought the error was an honest mistake or intentional." One single isolated sentence - says nothing and says everything. Word craft award of the month!
However in "U-46 approves union deals " guaranteed raises most non-school people won't see were accepted in the financially strapped district's contract yet the quote from the CFO and atty. make it sound like they all fell on their swords after being beaten with sticks. “It’s certainly hard to negotiate under these conditions,” district attorney Patrick Broncato said." and “There’s nothing like a crisis to create realism,” Prince said. “Employees have pretty much accepted that the district has to look long-term now.”
But - TA DA - and touche' - in "Tax group challenges Dist. 41 hike" - a former board member is apparently telling the world "Willie DiFabio said the school board directly told administrators to “maximize the amount of revenue” produced by a 2001 voter-approved property tax hike. And doing so, he said, was part of the board’s “legal and moral responsibilities to live up to the expectations of our community.” (D-41 was one of the "clever" or some say “greedy” districts re what it took after a referendum.) His comment is preceded by “As Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41 faced challenges from a new group of tax opponents Monday night, a former school board member came to its defense.” This might be called words from the horse’s mouth addressing decisions by the other “end”.
NORTHWEST HERALD – "D-300 board OKs layoffs for 2006-07 school year" addresses terminations, and also says EXCERPT "The board voted, 5-0, Monday to lay off the 44 employees and to cut an additional 19 positions after teachers retire from them this summer. The district also will not fill five of the 45 new positions that it had planned to accommodate enrollment growth this fall. The board also voted to eliminate 520 positions, primarily coaches, mentors and club sponsors, should the referendums fail and the board carries out its plan to cut all extracurriculars."
That 520 number will strike terror into some people's hearts I'm sure. However the end of the piece on line says "What it means The District 300 board voted Monday night to lay off 38 teachers and six classroom aides if the March 21 referendums fail, in addition to not filling 19 positions from which teachers are retiring this summer. "
Addressing the appearance of an assistant supt. w/regard to the subject matter, the words “visibly distraught” are used. It’s an example of fact and ? “color”. While I don’t doubt that employment status is an emotional subject – so is wondering about the perhaps “visibly distraught” residents/children/taxpayers facing tax increases that are outside their ability to pay or which, considering opposition analysis, are, at the least, too high. Frankly, I know many people who are “visibly distraught” worrying about having to move because the taxes are excessive or who are “visibly distraught” when they hear school districts dig their own financial pits with bad business contracts, “creative financing”, and guaranteed raises and benefit packages that far outdistance what the average John and Mary Taxpayer (who pay districts’ bills) will ever see.
Taxpayers need to start reading not only the school districts’ prepared scripts but also what’s between the lines……………
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Innocent or “crafted” words can change every story from reporting facts to reporting biased facts and questionably “accepted” facts, or the opinion of the media doing the coverage. What letters to the editor are printed or how they are edited is also at the mercy of the paper in question. Even the finest and best-intentioned editor must deal with being “human” when making decisions. Advertisers carry weight with the papers as well and certainly want the school district involved to seem glowing to avoid loss of profit.
When Florida resident alumni from D-300 speak it is doubtful anyone supporting the YES position will take issue with THEIR “outsider” status even as they demean across-the-street truth sharers in Illinois who are affected by EVERY district’s financial status. D-300 tax increase supporters are apparently SEEKING such “outsider” pro YES input.
A Feb. 28, 2006 on line surf through the DAILY HERALD, the NORTHWEST HERALD, and the SUBURBAN CHICAGO shows:
SUB. CHGO. - A letter from Geneta Daly, Summerfield, Fla., 1962 Dundee High School alum takies the legal right to Freedom of Speech re D-300’s pro tax increase stance – albeit from the Sunshine State far from Illinois taxpayers. Then in “D300 OKs teacher cuts” EXCERPT "Voting "yes" will increase property taxes. However, a "no" vote will lead to $5.6 million in far-reaching budget cuts for the 2006-07 academic year, which will eliminate — among other things — extracurricular activities and teachers” essentially says that no matter how much omitted revenue the tax increase opposition (or anyone other than the District staff) finds or how accurate or inaccurate District 300’s numbers are - they're going to chop things anyway if the vote is NO................ Makes you wonder if they'd chop them even if they won the $360m Powerball prize just to prove some sad/manipulative financial philosophy or power/turf “point”.
DAILY HERALD - In “Dist. 181 to lower levy by $5 million” - 181 is correcting its "erroneous" levy. I love this excerpt "Armonda declined to comment about whether she thought the error was an honest mistake or intentional." One single isolated sentence - says nothing and says everything. Word craft award of the month!
However in "U-46 approves union deals " guaranteed raises most non-school people won't see were accepted in the financially strapped district's contract yet the quote from the CFO and atty. make it sound like they all fell on their swords after being beaten with sticks. “It’s certainly hard to negotiate under these conditions,” district attorney Patrick Broncato said." and “There’s nothing like a crisis to create realism,” Prince said. “Employees have pretty much accepted that the district has to look long-term now.”
But - TA DA - and touche' - in "Tax group challenges Dist. 41 hike" - a former board member is apparently telling the world "Willie DiFabio said the school board directly told administrators to “maximize the amount of revenue” produced by a 2001 voter-approved property tax hike. And doing so, he said, was part of the board’s “legal and moral responsibilities to live up to the expectations of our community.” (D-41 was one of the "clever" or some say “greedy” districts re what it took after a referendum.) His comment is preceded by “As Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41 faced challenges from a new group of tax opponents Monday night, a former school board member came to its defense.” This might be called words from the horse’s mouth addressing decisions by the other “end”.
NORTHWEST HERALD – "D-300 board OKs layoffs for 2006-07 school year" addresses terminations, and also says EXCERPT "The board voted, 5-0, Monday to lay off the 44 employees and to cut an additional 19 positions after teachers retire from them this summer. The district also will not fill five of the 45 new positions that it had planned to accommodate enrollment growth this fall. The board also voted to eliminate 520 positions, primarily coaches, mentors and club sponsors, should the referendums fail and the board carries out its plan to cut all extracurriculars."
That 520 number will strike terror into some people's hearts I'm sure. However the end of the piece on line says "What it means The District 300 board voted Monday night to lay off 38 teachers and six classroom aides if the March 21 referendums fail, in addition to not filling 19 positions from which teachers are retiring this summer. "
Addressing the appearance of an assistant supt. w/regard to the subject matter, the words “visibly distraught” are used. It’s an example of fact and ? “color”. While I don’t doubt that employment status is an emotional subject – so is wondering about the perhaps “visibly distraught” residents/children/taxpayers facing tax increases that are outside their ability to pay or which, considering opposition analysis, are, at the least, too high. Frankly, I know many people who are “visibly distraught” worrying about having to move because the taxes are excessive or who are “visibly distraught” when they hear school districts dig their own financial pits with bad business contracts, “creative financing”, and guaranteed raises and benefit packages that far outdistance what the average John and Mary Taxpayer (who pay districts’ bills) will ever see.
Taxpayers need to start reading not only the school districts’ prepared scripts but also what’s between the lines……………
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