75 cents
Breaking news at Daily-Chronicle.com
David Compher
Serving DeKalb County since 1879
Friday, March 8, 2013
BOYS BASKETBALL
GOOD BOOK
Sycamore’s season ends in sectional semi Sports, B1
Sycamore pastor embarks on Bible challenge Faith, C1
Quinn’s school cuts darken forecast Local education leaders say $400 million in cuts are a misguided fix for pensions By JEFF ENGELHARDT jengelhardt@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – A more than $400 million cut to education to solve a $97 billion pension shortfall is an equation that does not add up for Luke Glowiak. Glowiak, assistant superintendent for business at Sycamore School District 427, said Gov. Pat Quinn’s call for
cuts to elementary, secondary and higher education during his budget address Wednesday shows the governor has missed the point on solving the pension problem. Instead of investing in education, Glowiak said Quinn is holding it ransom to force action on pension reform, which should be considered a separate issue. “We need to quit pandering
to this crisis mentality, and we need to start coming up with some creative thoughts,” Glowiak said. “Education is the most important commodity we have, and it’s the one being given short shrift.” Quinn’s proposal came as no surprise to Glowiak or other local school district officials who have seen state support plummet in the past five years. If the cut is imple-
mented, it would bring the total cut to K-through-12 education to more than $1 billion since 2008. Under the plan, $150 million would be cut from the minimum per-pupil spending the state is supposed to provide school districts. That would mean districts would receive only about 82 percent of the per-pupil amount, or general state aid, that state law says
is needed to adequately fund a student’s education. Sycamore School District 427, already considering eliminating seven positions in part because of lack of state funding, could be out of close to $1 million in general state aid under Quinn’s plan, Glowiak said. Even more funding would be lost with transportation funding expected to be prorated at 19 percent.
VOTERS GET FIRST LOOK AT EGYPTIAN THEATRE
ELECTION ON HORIZON
“We seem to want to find scapegoats to beat up and the governor and a couple legislative leaders are making the scapegoat the pensions and schools and that’s disappointing,” Glowiak said. The cut to transportation funding was the main concern for most local school officials,
See CUTS, page A4
N. Korea hit by new U.N. sanctions after nuclear testing The ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kyle Bursaw – kbursaw@shawmedia.com
DeKalb Park District commissioner candidate Keith Nyquist (right) gives his two-minute opening statement Thursday after Bryant Irving (center) and Dean Holliday (left) during the candidates night forum at the Egyptian Theatre in DeKalb.
Candidates for school board, park board share views at forum By DAVID THOMAS
More online
dthomas@shawmedia.com
To see video from the event, visit Daily-Chronicle.com.
D
eKALB – About a month before the April 9 election, voters got their first broad look Thursday at the candidates for DeKalb School District 428 board and the DeKalb Park Board. The five candidates who are competing for three spots on the school board – Vickie Hernan-Faivre, Mary Hess, George “Joe” Mitchell, Victoria Newport and Marilyn Parker – each touted their personal and professional experience to the public. “I am not a politician. I am an advocate of education,” Mitchell said in his opening statement. “The success me and my wife have achieved is because of education.” Meanwhile, the four candidates running for a six-year unexpired term on the park board – Per Faivre, Dean Holliday, Bryant Irving and Keith Nyquist – each raised their own concerns about the planned renovation of Hopkins Pool. “Because of this, I support
Election Central For more on the candidates, visit elections.dailychronicle.com.
Kyle Bursaw – kbursaw@shawmedia.com
District 428 school board candidate Marilyn Parker listens to a man while meeting people before the start of the candidates night forum at the Egyptian Theatre in DeKalb. an effort to slow down the process to renovate the facility,” Nyquist said. “I want the final result to be something we can all be proud of.” The school board and park board candidates who spoke at Thursday’s forum at the Egyptian Theatre each had two minutes to deliver an opening statement and two minutes to deliver a closing statement. The forum, sponsored by the DeKalb Area Chamber of
Commerce and local media, also included candidates running for DeKalb mayor and aldermen in the 2nd and 4th wards.
School board candidates have vested interest Each of the school board candidates spoke of the importance of maintaining quality education at a time when districts such as DeKalb are facing difficult fiscal times. Dis-
trict 428 entered the 2012-2013 school year with a $2.3 million deficit. Payments from the state are prorated at 89 percent, and general state aid to schools is expected to fall next year. Hernan-Faivre said her business experience and willingness to make tough decisions would make her an ideal candidate for the school board. She said she already does so as a volunteer member of the district’s finance and facilities advisory committee – a group of community leaders and school officials that is thinking of ways the district can cut costs.
See CANDIDATES, page A3
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council responded swiftly to North Korea’s latest nuclear test by punishing the reclusive regime Thursday with tough, new sanctions targeting its economy and leadership, despite Pyongyang’s threat of a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the United States. The penalties came in a unanimous resolution drafted by the U.S. along with China, which is North Korea’s main benefactor. Beijing said the focus now should be to “defuse the tensions” by restarting negotiations. The resolution sent a powerful message to North Korea’s new young leader, Kim Jong Un, that the international community condemns his defiance of Security Council bans on nuclear and ballistic tests and is prepared to take even tougher action if he continues flouting international obligations. “Taken together, these sanctions will bite, and bite hard,” U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice said. “They increase North Korea’s isolation and raise the cost to North Korea’s leaders of defying the international community.” The new sanctions came in response to North Korea’s underground nuclear test Feb. 12 and were the fourth set imposed by the U.N. since the country’s first test in 2006. They are aimed at reining in Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development by requiring all countries to freeze financial transactions or services that could contribute to the programs. North Korea kept up its warlike rhetoric early today after the U.N. vote, issuing a statement saying it was canceling a hotline and a nonaggression pact with rival South Korea.
A2 A3-4 A4
National and world news Opinions Sports
Susan Rice U.S. ambassador
AP photo
Security Council members vote for tough new sanctions against North Korea for its latest nuclear test Thursday during a meeting at U.N. headquarters.
Weather
Inside today’s Daily Chronicle Lottery Local news Obituaries
“Taken together, these sanctions will bite, and bite hard. They increase North Korea’s isolation and raise the cost to North Korea’s leaders of defying the international community.”
A2, A4 A5 B1-4
Advice Comics Classified
C4 C5 C7-8
High:
39
Low:
28