I'm starting to like this guy...

I received another fine e-note from School Board Vice President Sean Matheson this morning, replying to my last post. He is succinct in answering/justifying some common concerns so I'm posting his entire letter:
Polly,

I know as soon as I write these words that they are instant fuel for
the "District 150 is run by idiots" machine, but here goes nonetheless:
we don't actually have a "plan" to show you.

But there is a reason for this. The plan as to how the school will
look, its footprint on its site, and the community programs it will
offer (such as a health and dental clinic, Peoria Public Library branch,
senior citizen exercise and meeting rooms, etc) are all intended to be
determined by a 2-3 day community charrette starting in May or June.

There has been only one decision by the District, and that is where
the school will be located. We feel that is solely our call based on
what we believe is best for the children who will attend the school.

There are some fundamental beliefs on what the school should be like,
though, that guided that decision. It will house students from 6 weeks
old through 8th grade (what we call B-8). It will be air conditioned and
be open well into the evening and weekends for community use. It will
incorporate LEED (or high energy efficiency) design characteristics that
will keep our costs of running it down. And it will have room for
students to run and play and learn in green areas, not on blacktop.

As for the financing, these two new schools (and the ones to follow)
are critical to our cost cutting strategy of consolidating two older,
educationally outdated schools into one new, educationally appropriate
school (I can explain what we mean by "educationally appropriate", but
it would be another longer email). District 150 has an amazingly low
debt level. Indeed, we are scheduled to repay almost all of our existing
bonds over the next seven years or so. We will structure repayment of
our new construction bonds so that as our existing bonds retire, we will
begin paying off the new ones. This will allow us to keep the tax rate
steady, i.e. no increase. Or to put it more simply, District 150's
financial problems are all in its annual spending (91% of it personnel
costs), not in its overall financial health. We are cash-flow poor, but
luckily unencumbered by debt.

I am sure you may have more questions, but I don't want to bog you
down with an endlessly long email. If you would like to post some
questions on your blog with my responses, I would be willing to do that.

Best,

Sean