Achieving educational excellence and lowering the property tax for residents were key issues when candidates for the Homer Community Consolidated School District 33C Board took part Monday night in a forum at the Lockport Moose Lodge.
The five candidates — Elizabeth Hitzeman, Julie Obradovic, Russ Petrizzo, Vivienne Porter and Kathryn Talaski — are vying for three seats, all for four-year terms, in the April 7 election.
Obradovic, Porter and former Homer Glen mayor Petrizzo are running together.
The average property tax in Homer Glen is more than $7,000, Petrizzo said. More than three-fourths goes to public education, tax records show.
The candidates agreed neither teachers’ jobs nor their salaries should be cut. Eliminating standardized tests was brought up as one option.
“We are over-standardizing testing our children, and the funding from this only benefits the state, not the children,” Obradovic said.
Standardized testing does not prepare children for advanced careers; it only places them in general groups, according to Porter.
Obradovic grew up in Homer Township and attended District 33C schools, according to her campaign website. She taught Spanish at Riverside-Brookfield High School from 1998 to 2014 and was recognized by Oprah Winfrey as an outstanding teacher on a 2004 show, it said.
Obradovic focuses her attention not only on financial discipline but on incorporating special-needs programs into the district.
“Our schools are extremely financially motivated at the expense of our children,” she said.
Petrizzo, who was mayor from 2001 to 2006, said, “Property taxes are too high and people do not want to move into our community.”
A financial adviser for RBC Wealth Management, Petrizzo said a financial and educational background is a requirement for the next group of board members to be elected. Porter, a former credit analyst and account executive for Ricoh who specializes in information technology sales, agreed a dual background makes a candidate well-rounded and can help cut school costs in a positive way.
“We can look for ways to cut spending in the schools, for example like volunteering in the lunchroom instead of hiring paid employees,” Porter said, “I know plenty of mothers that would love the opportunity to stop up at school during the day and visit their children.”
Talaski also comes from a financial background, with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in business finance.
She and others defended teachers salaries. According to the Illinois Report Card, the average teacher salary in the district in 2014 was $59,621. The state average was $62,435.
“Higher paid teachers are more qualified,” Talaski said.
“We all run a budget at home,” Petrizzo said. “We make so much money, so we spend so much money. And it is the same within the schools; and right away, everyone goes to the teachers. There are other ways to cut money.”
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Hitzeman, another former teacher who has lived in the area for 37 years, agrees teachers are not to blame for high property taxes.
“We need more commercial and industrial growth in our community to lower property taxes,” she said.
She said quality teachers and a low student-to-teacher ratio are critical to a good education.
“At one time in my career, I had 33 students in one class,” Hitzeman said, “That is not the way to teach a class. We do not want overcrowded classrooms in our district.”