McHenry Times

Having observed innovative programs initiated successfully in states from Arizona to Florida, Steve Reick, the Republican candidate for the state House in District 63, wants Illinois constituents to consider a similar transformation — with novel ideas about spending school dollars.

 

As a tax lawyer, Reick’s message carries weight tempered by years of professional budget management.

 

“I want to lower taxes by proposing changes to education funding, changes which put more power in the hands of parents,” the Woodstock resident said. “The status quo has driven people and jobs out of Illinois because the Legislature does the bidding of groups that have bought and paid for it instead of the work of the people.”

 

The candidate, a former Harvard resident, has already proposed a way to reform education spending; this month he proposed empowering parents to have a voice in budget allocations, calling out the current system as antiquated and imbalanced.

 

“We can start the process by describing our current system of government schools, and the medieval guild that runs it for what it is: bloated, self-indulgent and counter to the needs of us, our children and our country," Reick said. "Rather than complain about the current state of education, we should tear it up, root and branch."

 

In particular, Reick pointed to a Nevada initiative, the Educational Choice Scholarship Program, enacted in 2015 that enables parents to educate their children outside the public school system’s domain with state funds. The program takes into account a family’s income and any accommodations required by the children.

 

Academic tuition and therapeutic services alike fall under that program’s province, which stipulates that funds can be used for private school, distance learning or tutoring services, plus authorized expenses such as special needs services, testing fees and related costs.

 

Reick believes that an Education Savings Accounts (ESA) program like that employed in Nevada could benefit Illinois. Advantages, he said, extend beyond merely choice — the benefits would break through the domination of a single-choice system.

 

He also suggested that Springfield start handling pension underfunding as a capital project financed by a revenue-neutral source, removing it from its current status in the domain of property taxes.

Reick illuminated the fact that Illinois property taxes are funneled directly to education; with homeowners paying exorbitant property tax rates in the Land of Lincoln, he said, surely they should have more of a voice in their children’s schooling options.

 

"When I’m asked by voters how I intend to change the way education is funded in Illinois, I tell them that it’s time to put the responsibility for paying for education squarely where Article [10], Section 1 of the Illinois Constitution says it should be: 'The state has the primary responsibility for financing the system of public education,'” Reick said.

 

He added that many of his own clients’ experiences have been instructive.

 

“I know first-hand what it looks like when a pension plan explodes, and it’s not pretty,” Reick said. “The same thing is happening here, only the numbers are bigger and the taxpayers are going to be left holding the bag.”

 

Delving deeper into possible redistribution of the state’s coffers, Reick also brought up the issue of disproportionate tax rates within the state’s various municipalities.

 

“It’s really illustrative when you compare tax bills of properties of equal value between … Chicago and, say, McHenry, when we’re paying taxes in McHenry at twice the level as a house of similar value in Chicago,” Reick said. “The way we fund education in Illinois is skewed … toward the city of Chicago.”

 

With lopsided allocations, he said, his district is one of several forced to rely on those property taxes — and residents just cannot afford the steep price.

 

Reick suggests that the state re-examine its Constitution’s Article 10, which states that “the primary responsibility for funding education in the state belongs to the state, not to the local taxpayers."

"And the problem is that there is no other place to find money than the property taxes; and the issue is how high can they go before people just dig in their heels and say, ‘We’ve had enough,’” he said. “I’ve learned that the easiest money to borrow is money you should be paying over for taxes, but the hardest money to pay back is the money you’ve borrowed from the tax collector and used for other purposes. And … the legislature has been up to their elbows in making money go someplace other than where it’s supposed to go — in the pensions — because the fact is the Constitution guarantees benefits.”

 

He strongly supports Gov. Bruce Rauner’s “turnaround agenda” intended to alter worker’s compensation, wage and tort laws.

 

“We can’t begin to grow jobs and prosperity in this state until we provide the conditions in which businesses will be encouraged to come to Illinois,” Reick said.

 

A firm believer in Illinois’ potential across many sectors, such as manufacturing and transportation, Reick wants to see the state unified and strong. He has earned endorsements from The Chicago Tribune and The Northwest Herald.

 

District 63 encompasses Woodstock, McHenry, Marengo, Union and other nearby jurisdictions.