On April 6, Illinois voters are electing new mayors, school board members, township supervisors, city council members and more, and are weighing in on referendums. What do you think about raising chickens in your back yard? How about your neighbors?
The decisions we make in local elections have a big impact on our day to day lives, maybe more than national or state elections do. The people we elect on Tuesday will make decisions about our roads, parks, trash and recycling collection, our schools, police, firefighters, even the safety of the water we drink. The people we elect on Tuesday will be making decisions that may affect us for decades.
Take the school board. This small group of unpaid people has a huge impact on the quality of our children’s education. What could be more important than that? And when families are debating whether to move to a city, they often make the decision based on the strength of its schools. Did you know that more than 60% of your property tax dollars are spent by the schools?
There’s still time to learn more about who’s running. Many candidates have websites or candidate Facebook pages. Local papers and radio stations have been interviewing the candidates. Most of the zoom forums were recorded and are available to view.
There’s a Zoom Q&A at 7:00 tonight with the five DeKalb school board candidates. Sign up on the library’s webpage.
I’m Deborah Booth and that’s my perspective.
