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Name:
Eric Jones
What office are you seeking?
Member of the Board of Education for Sycamore CUSD #427
What is your political party?
N/A
What is your current age?
44
Occupation and employer:
Financial Advisor with Baird Private Wealth Management
What offices, if any, have you previously held?
None
City:
Campaign Website:
Candidate did not respond.
Education:
Bachelor of Science in Physics and Kinesiology, Honors Program at California Polytechnic State University
Community Involvement:
Rotaract Club of Sycamore (Secretary), Spartan Food Pantry (Vice President), Church of St. Mary Sycamore Finance Council, Sycamore Planning and Zoning Commission
Marital status/Immediate family:
Married with two children
Questions:
How can the district improve reading and English proficiency and state test scores?
With limited resources, we’ve taken a focused approach on improving in specific areas each year. For the last couple of years, the focus was on math. Having made substantial progress in that area, we are now switching our focus to reading and writing. Improvements can and will be made by reevaluating the curricular materials in use and allocating resources to interventionists that can be utilized across the elementary levels primarily to support both teachers and learners as each building sees fit.
DeKalb County public schools asked voters in November to support an up to 1% sales tax which officials said would have gone to help pay for needed things such as infrastructure work. The referendum was voted down. What ideas do you have to address aging buildings and infrastructure needs for your school district while not overburdening taxpayers?
There is no way to make money out of nothing. The state has decided to leave the burden of infrastructure maintenance on local property owners and there is no sign that this is going to change any time soon based on the state’s budget allocations. This is a statewide problem with many districts facing similar situations as Sycamore. In order to not seek additional funding from taxpayers, we will have to look at reducing programs or other expenditures in order to free up additional funds in the future budgets while delaying major work until additional debt has been paid down and new bonds can be issued. We can also continue to apply for school maintenance grants (which are limited to $50,000) and advocate through our representative bodies to the state legislature for more help in addressing this need.
Fiscal responsibility is an important part of elected roles, and a priority for voters. Do you believe the school district budget needs trimming? Why or why not? If you were to cut, where would you do it?
Fiscal responsibility is the most important role of the Board. The Board has attempted to strike a balance between maintaining the high level of educational rigor that draws residents to Sycamore and responding to public frustration over property tax levels and staff salaries. The State Report Card shows that Sycamore maintains high levels of educational success while being excellent stewards of tax payer dollars. For FY23, the district spent $13,815 per student in operational expenses vs. the state average of $18,905 while achieving higher rates of proficiency than the state average in ELA, math, and science. We’ve also achieved that with a lean administration (almost 50 more students per administrator than the state average) which helps to keep costs down. After having been a part of the Board that saw more than $6m in budgetary reductions a decade ago, I can say that additional cuts would likely not be feasible without having an adverse affect on student performance and staff morale.
Illinois, like many districts across the nation, is facing significant teacher shortages. What is your idea to recruit and retain educators, including special education, dual-language teachers, etc.
Sycamore’s advantage is in its community, both the public community as well as the educational community. It’s hard to recruit teachers based on having the nicest facilities or the highest wages when you’re ranked in the bottom 26% of all districts in the state for financial adequacy, so we have to be more creative and provide less tangible incentives for teachers to want to work and stay in Sycamore. Part of that is by working with our local higher education institutions to train the next generation of teachers, building an environment that is welcoming, and maintaining Sycamore’s strong image as a place where teachers come and stay, as noted by our 94% teacher retention rate.
Do you support Sycamore School District 427’s referendum, which will appear on the April ballot, to lift restrictions on where school board candidates can live so that anyone living in district boundaries can run for school board?
As someone who has run in multiple elections and also had to play a role in appointing two board members during that time due to this restriction, I fully support moving to an at-large election process. While I see merit in ensuring that we have a diverse set of members across the district’s boundaries, the facts are that most in the community don’t choose to seek out a role on the board through the election process. Countless uncontested elections are proof of this. Maintaining the three person per township rule forces the Board to spend time seeking unelected community members to fill the role instead of allowing the community the opportunity to select the candidates that they want. I believe that providing voters with more choice and more opportunity for community members that want to serve outweighs the potential risk of having more than three members from a single township.
If you have children, do they or did they attend public school and was that for all of their K-12 school years?
I have children in the district right now where they have been for their entire educational journey.
What do you see as the school district’s role in deciding what materials should be available in the library and in curricula?
History is not filled with great examples of book banning leading to better outcomes for those doing the banning or for those from whom they were banned. I support the rights of parents to opt out of having their children be exposed to certain works on the basis of their religious views if a curricular equivalent can be found, but I don’t support having those materials removed from the access of others.
Most of local residents' property taxes go to their school districts. Are taxes paid to your school district too high? What would you do to protect the interests of taxpayers?
Property taxes are high and there’s no reason to believe they will be going down anytime soon. The state of Illinois has adopted an educational funding model that relies primarily on property tax owners to fund their local school districts (23% of the district’s budget). Further exacerbating the issue is the fact that the city of Sycamore is dominated by residential property (73% of the district’s tax base vs. 51% for DeKalb) meaning that the brunt of school funding is shouldered by residents. That’s why taxes are high. Whether they are too high depends on the quality of school you want. I’ve already shared that Sycamore spends far less to educate a student than the state average and less than our neighboring districts. As far as respecting taxpayer interest, during the last round of contract negotiations the community supported the increases to salaries and benefits through lawn sign campaigns and social media pressure. Those contracts are the driving force behind the tax increases since 81% of expenses go to salaries and benefits. The only way to meaningfully reduce the property tax burden would be to increase class size and reduce educational staffing.
Most of the COVID relief money from the federal government is coming to an end. What spending adjustments does your school district need to make to address that?
Most of those funds were already expended and no additional adjustments are anticipated.
Should Title IX cover sexual orientation or gender identity? What are your views on the use of locker rooms and bathrooms by transgender students and their participating in sports?
No person, student or otherwise, should have to suffer the indignity of discrimination. Title IX is a Federal law and any clarity required in its implementation should be handled by Congress. Bathrooms and locker rooms are built to accommodate specific biological features and in a situation where those are insufficient for the user, unisex facilities should be made available. As to the participation of transgender athletes, that would need to be addressed by the respective governing sports body.
What is your stance on ICE agents accessing school grounds, and what policies would you advocate for regarding their presence on school property?
Our priority is on educating every student that enters our buildings and to provide them with a safe space to learn. Any building access by non-district individuals would need to follow the appropriate legal process working in partnership with our local law enforcement partners.
What are the top three issues that the school district is facing right now?
Unfunded state mandates, inadequate state funding, and a continual expansion of expected teacher responsibilities outside of traditional learning.
What is your position on allowing students to use cell phones during school hours?
The district made the transition several years ago to a one-to-one educational model supported by district-provided technology. Cell phones do not fill a necessary role in the educational environment and should not be available during instructional time.
Do you think cell phone policies should allow exceptions for emergencies or specific educational purposes? If so, how would these exceptions be defined?
The district, through the Parent Teacher Advisory Council, should work with teachers, parents and administrators to develop a list of exceptions as needed.
What steps would you take to address concerns about cyberbullying and inappropriate content access through student cell phones?
Expectations for student conduct and policies surrounding discipline should be developed through the Parent Teacher Advisory Committee and included in the student handbook.
Should students be able to use AI in schoolwork?
AI should be thoughtfully integrated into the educational experience. It is likely that proficiency with AI tools will be an essential skill in the students’ future job fields, so providing them with an understanding of how to utilize those tools to solve problems and increase efficiency is essential.
What is your plan for making district financial reports, including budgets and expenditures, publicly available and easy to understand?
Nearly all district financial data is publicly available. Unfortunately, there is nothing “easy” about the Illinois school funding laws. However, we continue to work on additional financial dashboards, available through the district website, to answer the questions we receive most and hope to add additional dashboards in the coming years.
How would you involve parents and community members in the decision-making process for curriculum or policy changes?
There are multiple board committees that seek input from parents and community members including the Parent Teacher Advisory Committee and the Citizens Advisory Council. The public is also encouraged to share their thoughts at public board meetings and town hall meetings.
What is your position on banning books in school libraries or classrooms, and how do you define the criteria for such decisions?
Answered earlier.
How would you balance maintaining appropriate class sizes with the current teacher staffing levels?
We do our best to maintain reasonable class sizes while staying within our budgetary means.
Do you believe the district is allocating enough resources toward hiring and supporting teachers, and if not, what changes would you make?
81 percent of the district’s budget is expended on salaries and benefits for teachers, administrators, and support staff. The overall resource allocation cannot be meaningfully changed without additional increases to property tax revenue. While Sycamore’s teacher salary schedules are very competitive for veteran teachers, there is room for improvement for starting salaries. However, those changes would have to be supported by the SEA.
How will you make sure you are accessible to your constituents?
I maintain a presence on Facebook and frequently respond to emails sent to my board email address.