The Evanston/Skokie School District 65 board may soon meet once a month in an effort to increase board productivity and community input.
At Monday night’s meeting, acting board president Hecky Powell said the board could be more efficient if members approached issues in committees, not as an entire board. He proposed the board begin holding committee meetings during evening hours convenient for community members to attend and convene as a group once a month instead of twice a month. The change could be made by January.
Reiterating concerns raised by community members at recent meetings, Powell said community members are not given an adequate chance to communicate with board members under the current system.
“People come to this mic and they have good things to say,” Powell said. But he said their comments would be more helpful in a different forum.
“These people here,” said Powell, pointing to community members at the board meeting, “I feel separate from them. They’re so far away.”
By holding committee meetings late in the evening, Powell said community members can “sit at the table, roll up their sleeves and try and get some work done” with board members.
Board members were receptive to Powell’s suggestion but raised concerns about accountability and possible inefficiencies.
The board holds open meetings twice a month and holds committee meetings at other times, which are not necessarily open to the public. Although board member Bob Eder said most school boards around the state meet once a month, some community members are interpreting Powell’s request as a way to avoid work.
“Someone had a concern that this board was not going to do their job,” board member Marianne Kountoures said.
She said members of the community perceived the suggestion to become more committee oriented as “another layer of bureaucracy without accountability.”
Eder thanked Powell for the suggestion but said more details are needed, calling for a formal proposal to cement the concept.
Board member Mary Rita Luecke said she is concerned that committees will make decisions too quickly, without the reflection of the whole board. Because committees are comprised of a quorum of four board members, they could put items that they decide on the consent agenda.
But Superintendent Hardy Ray Murphy said committees should be a subset of board interests and speak for every member. Murphy said he was worried that free-reigning community participation might slow down committees and ultimately hinder the board.
The board also discussed House Bill 750, a tax reform bill that will be reintroduced in the Illinois Senate in January. The bill would dramatically change the way schools are funded — shifting some of the funding burden from local property taxes to the state income tax and sales tax.
Board finance committee member Mary Erickson called the state’s school funding “antiquated” and “inefficient.”
Raising concerns surrounding the bill’s accountability, its far-reaching tax reform and its exclusion of special education funding, the board said it is premature to fully support the bill now.
Murphy said before the board supports the bill, members should consider meeting with District 202 and other area school districts.
“I think what this board ought to support and get behind are funding and tax reform principles,” board member Eder said.
Reach Ben Clark at [email protected].