Readers tell me they’ve never seen so much organized politicking in suburban school board elections as they have this year. In some areas, residents mailboxes are stuffed with campaign fliers, yard signs are stacking up on street corners and voters are even receiving robocalls.
Political organizations headed by people such as state Rep. Robert Rita, D-Blue Island, and Kyle Hastings, the mayor of Orland Hills, are actively campaigning for their handpicked candidates.
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School districts control tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue, raised mostly through the property tax. They hand out construction contracts worth millions of dollars, their legal bills can easily reach $1 million or more per year and health insurance, technology and janitorial contracts can all be worth a lot of cash. A search for a new school superintendent can land a consulting company a $100,000 fee.
Did I mention school administrative jobs with six-figure salaries, lucrative pensions, an attractive vacation package and health insurance?
The surprising thing is that it took political organizations so long to recognize the benefits of getting involved in suburban school board campaigns.
In Cook County, about 20 percent of registered voters will cast ballots in Tuesday’s elections, which include municipal offices, school district and community college boards as well as park district, library district and fire protection district boards.
Actually, in 2013, the last time local elections were held, 18.9 percent of registered voters cast ballots in Cook County, according to county Clerk David Orr’s office. In 2011, the number was 16.7 percent, an all-time low.
What that means is that a candidate who persuades a mere 11 percent of the eligible voters to back him is a lock to win. Any political organization worth its salt ought to be able to produce that vote.
People not only fail to vote in school board elections, but those who do often know little about the candidates aside from the political propaganda they get in the mail. Such mailings almost always include a promise to lower property tax bills, improve student test scores and to be tough with teachers unions during negotiations.
As with most political campaigns, no candidate is ever held accountable for making false promises.
There was a time, back in my days as a young reporter, when suburban mayors would boast that they never got involved in school board elections. Voters don’t want politicians sticking their noses into education, they would tell me.
Many of those mayors, who were kings in their communities, said they personally felt it was wrong to do so. It’s about what’s best for our children, they would say, not what’s best for anyone’s political career.
There were exceptions, of course, and unions often got involved in an effort to influence teacher contract negotiations.
And during the late 1980s and early 1990s, as property values and tax bills skyrocketed, many suburban mayors issued news releases and held news conferences to make it clear that the school districts, not their towns, were responsible for the higher bills.
Along with the general public, a lot of these local political leaders were unaware that the state had begun slashing its share of public school funding — forcing local school boards to increase their districts’ property tax levy or cut programs and teacher salaries (as neighboring school districts were raising theirs).
Most people move to the suburbs because of the public schools. Mayors understand this, and most realize that the fate of their towns is largely tied to the quality of their public schools.
While the majority of voters seem disinterested in school board elections, the quality of education remains a priority in almost every political poll. For more than a decade, Illinois residents told pollsters they would even support a state income tax hike if the money went to their public schools.
That kind of support results in elections where governors and state legislators all say that public education is their top priority, even if they have little or no commitment to getting that done.
Dozens of candidates for statewide office and the legislature have launched their campaigns with the words, “I was a school board president” or “I was a school board member” so you know they really care about your kids.
Last year, during the gubernatorial campaign, Gov. Pat Quinn, the Democrat, and Bruce Rauner, the Republican, each vowed to make public education a priority and to increase education spending. Ironically, for the first time in my recollection, both candidates for governor ridiculed the state’s overreliance on the property tax for funding the schools.
They read their polls. Illinois residents have had it with property tax increases that have no end in sight.
So here you have the convergence of two issues that voters really care about — the quality of their schools and their property tax bills. Yet when it comes to the elections that would have the greatest impact on both, people don’t vote.
The lack of interest in school elections is also demonstrated by the lack of candidates in many districts. Only 51 of 139 elementary school districts in Cook County will be contested Tuesday, according to Orr. There are 11 uncontested races among the 36 high school districts.
The lack of competition certainly has a dampening effect on voter turnout but begs the question of why there are so few candidates if the quality of education and rising tax bills are such important issues.
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Some of the most hotly contested school board races are in places that have good schools (such as Flossmoor and Orland Park), while in some areas with underperforming schools there are no contests at all.
In the meantime, in Chicago, where the school board is appointed by the mayor, there’s a public outcry for electing the board. Inevitably, if that happens, local ward organizations will run their candidates, the mayor will channel money to certain of his favorites and the Chicago Teachers Union will do the same.
Maybe that’s for the best. My guess is probably not.