TUESDAY
Fe b ru ar y 17, 2015 • $1 . 0 0
MOVING FORWARD
Kaneland contains St. Edward, advancing to regional semifinal / B1 HIGH
LOW
13 1
Complete forecast on page A10
Camri Conley
daily-chronicle.com
SERVING DEKALB COUNTY SINCE 1879
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Boards consider swapping land Move would help D-428, DeKalb park district meet future needs By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – The DeKalb Park District and DeKalb School District 428 are considering a land swap deal that would poise both entities to meet their future needs. District 428 board President
Tracy Williams said the school district offered the park district a little more than 14 acres adjacent to Huntley Middle School, in exchange for 8 acres west of Gwendolyn Brooks Elementary School and 3.7 acres east of Chesebro Elementary School. There is no money involved in the swap.
“Each entity comes out ahead,” Williams said. “Because it allows both entities to come up with options they don’t have.” For the school district, having land near Brooks, 3225 Sangamon Road, could accommodate a school expansion if DeKalb sees higher school
enrollments, Williams said. Having land near Chesebro, 900 E. Garden St, which now is closed, would give district leaders more flexibility if they decided to reopen it, Williams said. Neither of those options, Williams cautioned, is part of a set plan.
“We have no intentions of doing anything near-time to those properties,” Williams said. “Except maintain them as open space.” For its part, the park district would gain two baseball diamonds at the property
If you go What: DeKalb District 428 School Board meeting When: 7 p.m. today Where: District 428 Education Center, 901 S. Fourth St., DeKalb
See BOARDS, page A3
Rauner being pressured to fix child services American Civil Liberties Union files lawsuit to speed up reform By SOPHIA TAREEN The Associated Press
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
In the DeKalb RAMP office, Eric Brown (left), the education and advocacy coordinator for RAMP, Lindsay Robinson (center), program manager for AIM in Kendall and Kane counties, and Lisa Seymour, the county manager for RAMP, meet Feb. 11 to talk about training first responders on disability etiquette. The RAMP organization works to help society be fully accessible to all people with any type of disability. They are awaiting Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget address Wednesday, to see what the future of state funding looks like.
Holding their breath DeKalb County nonprofits anxious about Rauner’s budget address By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Eric Brown is prepared to campaign for better funding for nonprofits within hours of hearing the forthcoming financial plan for the state of Illinois. Brown, the education and advocacy coordinator for RAMP, will be one of 22 representatives from centers for independent living across the state who will meet Wednesday to develop a funding plan. They are waiting to hear Gov. Bruce Rauner deliver his budget address Wednesday and to learn from the Department of Human Services what that will mean for service agencies. “Without knowing what’s happening,” Brown said, “none of us really know what we’re going to be advocating for.” Local human services providers said the atmosphere in their circle is rife with anxiety as rumors circulate that Rauner’s budget proposal could bring devastating cuts. With the predicted magnitude of cuts varies wildly, some agencies anticipate they could lose about 20 percent of their state
Lisa Seymour (left), the county manager for RAMP talks to Eric Brown, the education and advocacy coordinator for RAMP, on Feb. 11 in the RAMP office in DeKalb about his trip Wednesday to Springfield for Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget address. While in Springfield, Brown will be meeting with disability service heads from around the state and discussing what the numbers released in the state budget means for the organizations. funding. Rauner will need to target large gaps left in the $35.7 billion budget lawmakers passed in spring 2014. Budget problems have been heightened by the expiration of the state’s temporary income tax hike. The state’s subsidized day care program, for example, faces a $300 million shortfall by the
end of the fiscal year, while the state also is running out of money to pay court reporters. In all, the state is projected to have a $2 billion revenue gap by June. What efforts to balance this year and the coming year’s budgets remain unclear to State Rep. Bob Pritchard, a Hinckley Republican.
Pritchard said Rauner has kept his budget close to the vest, but he expects to see a budget that matched Rauner’s repeated calls for sacrifice. Pritchard said he thinks Rauner, over the next three years, will try to preserve human services, while cutting mandates and other programs that add costs to human service agencies’ budgets. “Clearly there’s going to be an adjustment period,” Pritchard said. “Until we get these things in place, budgets are going to be strained.” For RAMP, which supports independent living for people with disabilities, a 20 percent cut would mean losing around $124,000, said Executive Director Julie Bosma. State funding in total accounts for 43 percent of the agency’s annual budget. With a majority of RAMP’s budget tied to staff, a 20 percent cut would have implications for the agency staffing, Bosma said. RAMP officials might need to cut staff or shift them into programs that produce revenue, she said. Those programs under fire include the agency’s
CHICAGO – First-term Gov. Bruce Rauner has come under increasing pressure to overhaul Illinois’ troubled child welfare system after a leading civil rights group asked for quick federal court action over “dangerously inadequate” care and services. The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois filed a complaint against the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services late Friday, the latest turn in a decades-old consent decree aimed at keeping adequate foster care and child protective services in place. Rauner’s administration responded Monday by touting a new director and efforts to help foster care children. But days ahead of his first budget address, questions lingered over how the Republican will make and fund any major changes. The ACLU, which argues state wards have a constitutional right to adequate state services, said serious problems have been triggered in years past by deep budget cuts and exacerbated by having roughly half a dozen directors in less than two years. The group wants a response soon on alleged violations of the decree, par-
“DCFS has already started and is committed to continuing to make the reforms necessary to ensure that the most vulnerable children of Illinois are cared for and receive the help that they need.” Andrew Flach DCFS spokesman
ticularly regarding children with mental health issues, and expects a hearing before a federal judge. “We’re not going through another revolving door of directors while we wait and our children suffer,” said ACLU attorney Benjamin Wolf. He said Rauner’s administration inherited issues but that recent talks over problems raised by newspaper stories and lawmakers’ hearings weren’t productive. He said agency officials wouldn’t agree to immediate overhauls, which triggered the lawsuit. In previous years, DCFS has agreed to comply
Gov. Bruce Rauner speaks to members of the Lombard Area Chamber of Commerce and the public about his plan for reform in Illinois Feb. 8 at The Westin Lombard Yorktown Center. The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois filed a complaint against the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, seeking reform. Lorae Mundt file photo for Shaw Media
See NONPROFITS, page A7
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Sycamore student makes smoker, donates it to Feed’em Soup / A3
Genoa-Kingston falls to Widow tells the story Hampshire, 49-30, to finish of her husband’s with 12-win season / B1 WWII crash / A2
Advice ................................ B4 Classified....................... B6-8 Comics ............................... B5 Local News.................... A2-4 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World...............A5-8
See RAUNER, page A7
Obituaries .........................A4 Opinion...............................A9 Puzzles ............................... B4 Sports..............................B1-3 State ...................................A4 Weather ........................... A10