Frankfort Mom Adds Up $16 million in 'Reckless Spending' by Lincoln-Way 210 Board of Education

Elizabeth Gonzalez of Frankfort approached the podium at Lincoln-Way North on February 25, 2016 to present some math to the L-W 210 Board of Education.

Citing what she described as a decade of “reckless spending” by the Board, Gonzalez tallied $16,370,418 in expenditures for items such as a water leak at Lincoln-Way Central that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars before being repaired, millions in land purchases, and penalties incurred for salary bumps.

Gonzalez' speech in full:

"Lincoln-Way District 210 has been deficit spending nearly every year since 2001, for a total of over 44 million dollars.

"Lincoln-Way has been on either the Review or Early Warning Lists since at least 2003, and with the depletion of over $37 million in reserves from 2009 to 2015, District 210 finally landed on the State Watch List.

"We all know this, but I bring this up, because when a District is deficit spending, and is on the State’s radar for not being fiscally healthy, shouldn’t they be giving careful consideration to how they spend every taxpayer penny? If they didn’t, to me that’s reckless.

"At the last Board Meeting, we scratched the surface of Lincoln-Way’s reckless spending—to the tune of $16,370,418. So let’s continue to look at Lincoln-Way’s spending decisions and see where it takes us.

"Please keep in mind that the following list of questionable spending decisions added to the District’s deficit spending for over a decade. It brings to question when the sole purpose of Lincoln-Way changed from educating high-schoolers to investing in real estate, training dogs, and padding pensions.

"This is in no way a complete list of questionable expenditures, because it is limited by the amount and type of information that could be attained from the District and public records, but it is a start.

• $400,000 for the1993 purchase of land for Lincoln-Way South which remains unused.

• $5,502,085 for the 1996 purchase of land at 191st & Harlem which remains unused.

• $4,970,000 for the 2007/2008 purchase of land for Lincoln-Way South which remains unused.

• $123,000 for the house next to Lincoln-Way West. This includes the 2013 purchase price, property taxes and estimated utilities.

• $45,000 to build-the Super Dog facility.

• $199,113 in penalties paid to State for end-of-career salary bumps that exceeded caps. Those end of year salary bumps could also add millions to this questionable spending total.

• $184,365 spent on the un-repaired central water leak.

• $60,000 in potential lost rent revenue to Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra.

• $3,431,250 in potential lost rent revenue to Aunt Nancy’s.

• $90,000 to install playground equipment for private business use.

• $1,206,000 paid in salary to the Executive Director L-W Foundation & Assistant.

• $60,000 for an Additional Business Manager for 100 days when we already have a business manager.

• $96,000 for the ACT 2016, when we should have been prepared for the State switch to the SAT.

• $605 as just one example of a Late Fee and Rush Charges paid do to the use of ineffective accounting practices.

• $3000 just this month for new lanyards for all 210 teachers.

"APPROXIMATE TOTAL RECKLESS SPENDING: $16,370,418

It makes me wonder if we hadn’t been spending money so recklessly, would we be sitting here at the final board meeting in this state-of-the-art, nationally-ranked high school?

This concludes my report."

(not read) SUPPORTING MATERIAL:

[1] $3 million purchase price + interest

[2] $110,000 purchase price in 2013 + $9,250 in property taxes ($3,700 X 2.5 years) +

$3,750 for estimated utilities ($125 monthly X 30 months)

[3] Total cost of unrepaired water leak at Central less the total cost of water at East

(comparable size school, though more students) during the same July 2014-June 2015

timeframe

[4] Based 10 show dates per season, approximately 4 hours total per show (not

including rehearsal time) 40 hours X $200 per hour* = $8,000. $8,000 X 7.5 seasons =

$60,000

* Estimated $45 per hour for in-district non-profits and $200 per hour for businesses

outside the district is based on research conducted by West Aurora school District in

2015 for comparable fees charged by other Districts (http://www.chicagotribune.com/

suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-west-aurora-facility-rentalst-

0306-20150305-story.html)

[5] $76,250 X 2 schools X 10 years (1998-2008=$1,525,000) + $76,250 x 3 schools X 1

year (2008-2009=$228,750) + $76,250 X 4 schools X 6 years (2009-2015=1,830,000), if

comparable rental revenue to District 218 is used.

[6] $134,000 salaries (not including benefits) for 9 years [2006-2015])

[7] The District should have prepared for Illinois shifting to SAT testing. If they had they

wouldn't be paying for ACT testing this year because they could have given proper

notice to the students so that they wouldn't have paid for ACT prep courses and tutors.

[8] In a 9-8-15 memo by Christopher McFadden to the BOE, he outlined two examples of

a $405.14 late fee and $200 rush charge paid by District 210 in 2015. It is unsure how

many other late fees and rush charges have been paid by 210.

The house itself, largely built with donations and grants, is debt-free, with the biggest

cost being personnel. The school district paid $403,258 for 12 students at the transition

house ($33,592 per student) and $511,186 for 29 students in its program or $17,627 per

student, according to Ron Sawin, District 210's assistant superintendent of business.

*Records show the Transition House was built primarily with taxpayer dollars. Donations paid a small part. The footnotes to this article incorrectly state funding was from donations.*

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