Posted in Barrington Area Library, Entertainment, Property Taxes on September 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Autumn officially begins on Sat, Sep 23, 2023, at 1:50 AM here in Barrington, and if you’re looking for a way to celebrate, we’ve got a few seats left for Sunday’s performance by the Elgin Symphony Orchestra String Quartet! Relax and enjoy beautiful, fall-inspired music – the concert is free and all ages are welcome. Sunday, Sept 24, 2 PM.
Register online to reserve your place here. Seating is limited, but drop in attendees may be admitted if seats remain open at show time.
Posted in BACT, Entertainment, Organizations, Resident Spotlights on September 22, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Please join us this Sunday at Valley View Farm for a lovely afternoon of live music, raffles, lawn games and more! This is our main fundraiser of the year directly supporting our mission to preserve the incredible natural spaces across the Barrington area for current and future generations.
1-5 PM September 24th, Valley View Farm, 260 Otis Road, Barrington Hills. Purchase general admission tickets here. Purchase raffle tickets here:.
Posted in 220, Barrington Education Association, Board of Education, Countryside Elementary School, District 220 referendum, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Unions, Video Recordings, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on September 21, 2023| 1 Comment »
“At the Sept. 19 Board meeting, the Board heard a presentation about implementing full-day kindergarten in Barrington 220. Full-day kindergarten would extend core instruction (math, science, literacy, etc.) throughout the school day, and allow teachers time to encompass the whole child in exploration and personalized learning, as well as social-emotional development.
Currently, Barrington 220 offers a half-day option, however, the majority of students are enrolled in a fee-based Kindergarten Enrichment Program that runs a full day. One might assume that since the district currently accommodates the full-day Kindergarten Enrichment Program, it could easily accommodate full-day kindergarten. However, there are many factors to consider prior to implementing full-day kindergarten. For instance, over the past decade, there has been an enrollment increase each year of 40 to 60 students between kindergarten and first grade. Anecdotal evidence is that many of these students are attending private full-day programs, which leads to the assumption that a full-day program in the district will result in an increase in kindergarten enrollment. This would require an increase in staffing, as well as classroom space.
The district is currently reviewing options to renovate two or three classrooms at BHS to house a kindergarten lab program, or build classroom additions at elementary schools.
A final recommendation will be presented to the Board in October. Click here to listen to the Board presentation.”
Posted in BACOG, FPDCC, Intergovernmental agreements (IGA), Land Use, Plan Commission, Real Estate, South Barrington, Spring Creek Watershed, Topics Of Interest, Village Director of Administration, Well Water Quality, Zoning Board on September 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Excerpt from FEMA Preliminary Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) panel 0178 in Hoffman Estates | Courtesy of Illlinois State Water Survey on behalf of FEMA
Submitted by Shelly Fuller
Updates to portions of Cook County’s and Kane County’s Flood Insurance Rate Maps (FIRMs) are nearly complete.
The new maps will provide both counties with up-to-date flood risk information and tools that can be used to enhance local mitigation plans and help officials and residents make better decisions about reducing flood risks and purchasing flood insurance.
Areas of revision are within the Poplar Creek and Spring Creek watersheds and include portions of: Barrington Hills, Cook County (unincorporated areas), Elgin, Hoffman Estates, Inverness, Schaumburg, South Barrington, Streamwood, Kane County (unincorporated areas) and South Elgin.
The mapping project is part of a nationwide effort led by the Federal Emergency Management Agency to increase local knowledge of flood risks and support actions to address and reduce those risks.
The work has been led by FEMA Region V, in partnership with local community officials and the Illinois State Water Survey.
Before the new Flood Insurance Rate Map is finalized, a 90-day appeal period will give residents and business owners a chance to provide additional technical data or non-technical comments for FEMA’s consideration.
FEMA encourages residents and business owners to review the proposed map changes, learn about local flood risks and potential flood insurance requirements, and share any concerns or questions.
If members of the affected communities notice incorrect information that does not involve changing the flood hazard-related information-such as a missing or misspelled road name or an incorrect corporate boundary-a written correction, or “comment,” can be submitted.
If members of the communities have concerns about certain areas of the map and have technical and scientific information-such as detailed hydraulic or hydrologic data-that can be used to improve the maps, they may file an appeal during the 90-day appeal period. All comments and appeals must be submitted through the local officials. Because submitting an appeal requires some time and effort, we encourage property owners and renters to review the updated flood maps now.
If you are interested in submitting an appeal, we highly recommend that you first discuss it with your local officials so they can provide guidance on the process. For more details about this process, visit www.floodmaps.fema.gov/fhm/BFE_Status/bfe_main.asp.
Read more here.
Posted in Pension Funding, Politics, Resident Spotlights, Springfield, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Unions on September 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Illinois state Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills | Greg Bishop – The Center Square
(The Center Square) – A member of the Illinois House Personnel and Pensions Committee is suggesting lawmakers may need to look at other options if they hope to solve the state’s pension crisis.
Illinois currently spends more than $10 billion a year on public pensions, and the state’s five systems have an unfunded liability of at least $140 billion.
House Bill 4098, which has been the center of conversation during the House Personnel and Pensions Committee hearings over the past few months, would allow the Illinois Treasurer and Comptroller to transfer $500 million from the General Revenue Fund to the Pension Unfunded Liability Reduction Fund each fiscal year. Those funds would then be used to make payments into the state’s pension systems.
The committee’s chair, state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, said this is the right way to fix the pension crisis.
“This is the first time ever we have had a bill that discusses Tier 2 to this depth,” Kifowit told The Center Square in July. “This truly is momentum going in the right direction.”
Tier 2 pensions are for state employees hired after 2011. Stakeholders say the fewer benefits compared to Tier 1 are problematic and could run afoul of Social Security rules.
New to the House committee, state Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills, believes HB4098 goes after the taxpayers instead of addressing the unfunded liabilities.
“Twenty-eight percent of our budget now goes to pensions when most states are at 8%,” McLaughlin told The Center Square. “What is our solution? Move Tier 2 to Tier 1 and give them even more. So our solution is to go after the taxpayers’ wallet.”
Private pensions restructured their pensions years ago, an approach McLaughlin said legislators should consider but won’t.
“They restructured their pensions 10 or 15 years ago. They restructured them because they knew they were going to make sure they were going to get paid is to keep underlying business solvent,” McLaughlin said. “The public pension plans have never, and they will not allow that negotiation to take place. Their job [pension fund stakeholders] is to make sure we can stay solvent, and the only way they believe they can solve it is to constantly tax us. That is a recipe for disaster, which is why everyone is leaving the state.”
Read more here.
Posted in 220, Agendas, Barrington Education Association, Barrington High School, Board of Education, Countryside Elementary School, District 220 referendum, Ethics, His Master's Voice, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Unions, Video Recordings, Video Streaming, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on September 19, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The District 220 Board of Education meets this evening at 7:00 PM at the District Administration Center, 515 W. Main Street. Topics on their agenda include:
A copy of the agenda can be viewed here. The meeting will be live-streamed on the district YouTube channel.
Posted in Building Department, Crime, Riding Club of Barrington Hills, Roads & Bridges Committee, Village Director of Administration, Village President on September 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »
After litigation delaying its implementation, the full provisions of Illinois’ SAFE-T Act went into effect on Sept. 18. Here’s what to expect.
Illinois is the first state to abolish cash bail statewide, but what will that mean for crime?
The end of cash bail
After litigation delayed its full implementation, Illinois’ SAFE-T Act went into full effect Sept. 18 by order of the Illinois Supreme Court. Before then, all those arrested, regardless of offense, would be taken to a judge to determine the cash bail amount needed for the defendant to go free until trial.
The Pretrial Fairness Act portion of the SAFE-T Act changed the law by limiting the possibility of pretrial detention to defendants charged with felonies who pose a real and present threat to the safety of any person or persons or the community and those fulfilling one of eight categories of offenses and meeting the corresponding standard of threat to people or possibly the community. These include crimes such as stalking and weapons charges.
A prosecutor will now be required to file a petition for a defendant’s pretrial detention showing clear and convincing evidence the defendant committed the alleged offense and meets the standard of threat required to deny pretrial release for that offense. Any other offenders will be issued a summons to appear within 21 days.
What happens now?
Find out here.
Posted in Agendas, BCFPD, Jewel-Osco, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Unions on September 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District (BCFPD) Board of Trustees meets tonight at 6:30 PM at 22222 N. Pepper Road in Lake Barrington. A copy of their agenda can be viewed here.
Posted in 220, 300, Barrington Education Association, Board of Education, Deception, Ethics, His Master's Voice, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on September 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Contradictory metrics statewide point to poor accountability and grade promotion standards in Illinois. Low-income parents seeking alternatives are hamstrung as lawmakers weigh ending Illinois’ only school choice program.
In 2021, just 33% of Illinois’ 11th grade students could read at grade level. Only 29% could perform math proficiently.
One school year later in spring 2022, 87.3% of that cohort of students graduated. Illinois also celebrated its highest graduation rate in a decade.
Something is wrong here.
Illinois public schools continue to receive more funding despite producing poorer academic proficiency among its students. That as poor school accountability allows record graduation rates despite dismal proficiency rates.
Illinois parents frustrated by the academic failures of public schools deserve options. But Illinois’ only school choice program, which allows low-income families the choice to send their children to private schools on donor-funded scholarships, is set to end at the end of 2023, unless state lawmakers move to save it during their fall veto session.
Contradicting metrics for Illinois’ class of 2022
The four-year graduation rate in Illinois hit a decade high in 2022 at 87.3%. That doesn’t mean student performance was at a decade high.
The final state test administered to the graduating class of 2022 was the SAT in spring 2021 during their 11th-grade academic year. On that exam, only 33% could read at grade level and 29% could perform math proficiently.
The first year Illinois implemented the SAT to measure 11th-grade student proficiency was in 2017 when almost 40% of students scored at proficiency in reading and over 36% in math. Proficiency among high school juniors has declined each year since then, in 2022 resulting in the lowest percentage of students proficient since the SAT became the standard.
Record-low proficiency. Record-high graduations.
Adding to poor proficiency measures, many students in the class of 2022 missed 10% or more of their school days during their senior year. Nearly 44% of the graduating class of 2022 were labeled chronically absent during the 2021-2022 school year.
Read more here.
Posted in Barrington Area Library, Community Alerts, Ethics, Politics, Property Taxes, Taxes on September 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Barrington Area Library
“ORDINANCE NO. 2023-4 ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING LEVY OF AN ADDITIONAL TAX FOR THE PURCHASE OF SITES AND BUILDINGS, FOR THE CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT OF BUILDINGS, FOR THE RENTAL OF BUILDINGS REQUIRED FOR LIBRARY PURPOSES AND FOR THE MAINTENANCE, REPAIRS AND ALTERATIONS OF THE LIBRARY BUILDING AND EQUIPMENT WHEREAS, Section 35-5 of the Illinois Public Library District Act of 1991, (75 ILCS 16/35-5), authorized the levy of an additional tax of .02% of the value of all the taxable property in the District, as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue, for the purchase of sites and buildings, for the construction and equipment of buildings, for the rental of buildings required for library purposes and for the maintenance, repairs and alterations of the library building and equipment: NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Library Trustees of the BARRINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY DISTRICT, Lake, Cook, Kane and McHenry Counties, Illinois, that they hereby determine to levy an additional tax of .02% of the value of all the taxable property in the District, as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue, for the purchase of sites and buildings, for the construction and equipment of buildings, for the rental of buildings required for library purposes and for the maintenance, repairs and alterations of the library building and equipment.
ADOPTED this 11th day of September, 2023, pursuant to a roll call vote as follows: AYES: Carr, Cunningham, Lucas, McGrath, Miller, Ordway, Prigge NAYS: None ABSENT: None APPROVED by me this 11th day of September, 2023. ATTEST: /s/ Carrie Carr President /s/ Anne Ordway Secretary Published in Daily Herald September 15, 2023 (4605392), posted 09/15/2023”
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