Union Cash Still Dominates Center Cass Pro-Tax Effort

DARIEN, IL – With the election a week away, the teachers union in Center Cass School District 66 has provided nearly all the money for the campaign to increase property taxes.

As of Tuesday, the union has given $75,111, all but $3,000 of which has gone through a pass-through group.

In September, the Center Cass Education Association gave the Downers Grove-based pass-through group, Diogenes PAC, $95,000.

Of that money, 76 percent has now gone to the Save Center Cass School District 66 committee.

Save Center Cass is sending mailers asking residents to vote next Tuesday for a nearly 20 percent increase in the district's part of the property tax bill.

In the last quarterly report, besides the union money, Save Center Cass reported $3,800 in non-itemized contributions. The group is not required to report the names of donors who give less than $150.

Besides the teachers union, the only other named donor is a Woodridge woman who donated $500.

Diogenes originally failed to report the teachers union donated $95,000, but did so after a warning from the state Board of Elections.

Diogenes lists three committee members, all of whom are Center Cass teachers. They formed the group in late September.

Center Cass warns it lacks the money to get through a full school year. It says it may go the way of the East St. Louis school district, which became the subject of the state's strict financial oversight.