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Name: Gary Kinshofer
Age: 49
Town: McHenry
Office sought: McHenry District 156 School Board
1. What skills, qualities or experience do you possess that separate you from your opponents?
The experience of serving the past 4 years on the school board and successfully navigating the district through the financial crisis is invaluable. As a parent of a fifth grader, and an owner of multiple diverse businesses, I bring both a parent’s perspective as well as years of professional experience handling labor contracts, budgets, personnel and facilities. I have the pleasure of coaching multiple sports to our youths and am currently the president of the McHenry Jr. Warriors football league.
2. What can School District 156 do and what should it do to ease the property tax burden on homeowners?
We need to continue to be fiscally responsible as stewards of the taxpayer’s money. As chairman of the finance committee, we established a tax abatement meeting each year to review our financial status which resulted in the first tax abatement in school history in 2015. We need to continue to levy only what is needed to provide a comprehensive educational environment to ensure our students have multiple options and opportunities after they graduate from our school district
3. Do you support school building consolidations in the near future? If so, when? If not, why not?
No I do not, at this time. Student enrollment has decreased on average 1-2 percent over the past 3 years. Although I like the idea of having all of our students under one roof we do not have a facility that can handle our current, or foreseeable future, enrollment.
4. What will be the biggest challenge that School District 156 will face over the next four years and how will you meet it?
I believe there are many challenges that we will face in the next few years. One of the challenges will be unfunded mandates from the state. The growing costs to educate a student in the 21st century along with new technology requirements providing rigorous course offerings and progressive curriculum, and how pensions will be funded in the future are others examples that will impact our district. The way we will meet these challenges are by being fiscally responsible. In the past 4 years’ we have diligently reduced our debt by almost 40 percent while increasing our fund balances by 36 percent. This has put us in a position to reinvest in our school’s curriculum and technology needs.
5. Do you believe the school funding formula in Illinois should be changed. If yes, how? If no, why not?
Of course, it needs to change, but the question is to what? Currently we have a system that inherently pits the taxpayers against the school district. Property taxes make up around 80 percent of the districts revenue, which is a tremendous burden to the residents, while the state accounts for only about 15 percent and the federal government contribution is around 3 percent. This is the system that we have so we must work within it by making responsible decisions and watching all of our expenditures.
6. Do you believe most students are prepared to enter the workforce or attend college by the time the graduate from high school? Why or why not?
Yes, I do, and I believe the number is growing each year. Our primary objective as a Community, Board and District should always be to ensure that all of our students are college and career ready and have multiple options and opportunities available to them after they leave us. The current administration and teachers are working tirelessly to assure that we do the very best we can to achieve that goal. We must continually challenge our students with a rigorous curriculum while exposing them to as many life opportunities as possible.