Mayor Lovero on Education

At the All Berwyn Committee's Meet the Mayor program, BerwynCARES submitted 3 questions. Below are the 3 questions and a summary of Mayor Bob Lovero's answers.

1. One of your first actions as Mayor of Berwyn was to abolish the Education Committee. Why?

The mayor answered, "Because they didn't do anything." He went on to add that the "more important" issue of where the revenue comes from (economic development) will be addressed by his administration partially through the reinstituted Business, License, and Taxation Committee.

2. The Cermak TIF district contract is up for renewal in 2010. It is unclear whether Morton College and Morton HS District 201 support its renewal. If it is not renewed, will you support the re formation of a TIF district given the dire funding situation for our schools?

The mayor answered that this action is "already done." He indicated that the TIF will expire and then will be re-created allowing taxing bodies (including school districts) to begin getting tax revenues from the TIF properties at 2010 EAV rates, as opposed to the 1990 rates. Mayor Lovero indicated that both the Morton College and Morton High School Boards would support creating a new TIF district for Cermak Road, possibly extending it to include more businesses. This means that the property tax revenue of those properties in the TIF would be frozen at the 2010 EAV levels and all incremental increases during the life of the TIF (20 years) would be reinvested in the TIF district rather than added to the general city fund and other taxing bodies such as school districts and park districts.

3. In 1995, the city of Madison, WI set out to eliminate the 3rd grade reading achievement gap between minority and white students. Their efforts were successful, and involved the entire community, including students, parents, schools, the school district, civilian volunteers, local universities and social service agencies, as well as the chamber of commerce, government and the mayor. Given that Berwyn has similar educational challenges, what are your feelings about involving city government – as well as yourself – in educational improvement efforts for our students?

Mayor Lovero answered, "I don't tell the school districts what to do." He added that if they asked for his help in such an effort, that he would help. "I most definitely would," said the mayor.

Berwyn CARES will continue to engage our public officials in our efforts to unite ALL residents to improve educational opportunities in Berwyn. We are encouraged by Mayor Lovero's answer that if asked, he would help. We'll definitely be asking! We hope that our elected School Board officials will ask, too, and collaborate with Mayor Lovero and his administration to make the vision of excellence in education IN BERWYN a reality.