State Board urges families to get involved in students’ academic life during new school year 

Springfield, IL  – The Illinois State Board of Education is encouraging parents to volunteer in their children’s schools and monitor students’ academic progress as schools around the state open their doors for the start of a new year. Studies show parental involvement improves students’ learning experience and academic performance.

“Parents and family members can significantly impact their children’s attitude and performance in school by getting involved with school events and activities,’’ said State Superintendent of Education Christopher A. Koch. “A parent doesn’t need to spend every week at school to make a difference. Even a few hours each year can enhance your children’s learning experience and benefit their school.’’ 

The Illinois Parent Teacher Association promotes “Three for Me,” a National PTA program that encourages families and community members to pledge three hours a year volunteering on school-related work in or outside the school building. National program results have shown that parents generally spend at least three times the goal – or nine hours per year – once they make the commitment.  Volunteer work can take place in or outside of school. For more information on the program, visit the Illinois PTA site at http://www.pta.org/three_for_me.asp.

“Good family involvement requires schools working as partners to identify a variety of opportunities for family members in the community to engage in,’’ said Debra Strauss, President of the Illinois PTA. “Research shows that family involvement positively impacts student success regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status or education level because they’re focused on their children and that attention reaps positive results.’’ 

There is widespread consensus that family engagement is a critical ingredient for children’s success from birth to career and offers an economic benefit. A 2009 Harvard Family Research Project report noted that schools would have to spend $1,000 more per pupil to reap the same gain in student achievement that an involved parent brings.

The key to success, experts stress, is for both families and educators to develop ways to generate more family and community involvement. Some ideas for parents include: 

• Volunteer to read in your child’s classroom.
• Volunteer to help teachers organize their classrooms before the school year, during breaks or at the end of the year.
• Chaperone for a field trip.
• Serve as a translator during school-family meetings.

Some ideas for administrators and teachers include: 

• Make family engagement part of the core instructional strategy.
• Establish a monthly breakfast or lunch between parents and school faculty.
• Host a school-family event off the school campus.
• Host family movie, reading and game nights.
• Invite local businesses owners, older adults and other residents who may not have children to the school for events and activities.
• Identify tasks that can be done by working parents before or after the school day such as cutting or organizing supplies.

 Chicago, IL - Democratic candidate for Assessor Joseph Berrios on Thursday announced several policies that he will enact if elected on November 2nd. However his top priority will likely come sooner, and affect all senior property owners in Cook County.

“Now, more than ever, we need to help our seniors. Times are tough, and they deserve to be protected. That’s why I plan to work with legislative leaders immediately to eliminate the annual senior tax exemption renewal requirement,” Berrios said. “Seniors should automatically have their exemption renewed each year. I don’t want seniors who are rightfully entitled to forget, and miss out on this very important exemption.”

 There are nearly 285,000 senior citizen property owners in Cook County, said Berrios, who is working with lawmakers to eliminate the annual senior exemption during this fall’s veto session in Springfield. Under the automatic rollover system used by the Cook County Assessor’s office, seniors who showed proof of age and residency needed to apply for an exemption only once. Each senior saves hundreds of dollars through the exemption, Berrios said.

 Berrios is currently working with legislative leaders, and believes that the annual exemption requirement will be eliminated during veto session. Berrios made the announcement at his new campaign office, located at 664 W. Diversey Parkway in Chicago. He also announced several other initiatives that will help seniors when he takes office:

-Create a Senior Outreach Department 

A  newly created Senior Outreach Department at the Assessor’s office can help make the senior exemption and senior freeze more accessible to seniors and easier to understand. This will be a one or two-person department which will help facilitate new and existing senior programs. This department existed five years ago, but was eliminated by the current assessor. 

“During these difficult economic times, we need to make sure our seniors have the proper attention and understand which tax breaks they are afforded,” Berrios said. “We will work with the City of Chicago, as well as the State of Illinois, to attend various events and conduct outreach.”

-Implement a medical care deduction

Given the high cost of medical care seniors are faced with, Berrios will work with legislative leaders to create policy that would allow for the deduction of non-reimbursed medical and prescription drug expenses when determining income eligibility for a Senior Tax Exemption and/or Senior Tax Freeze. This is currently done in Nassau County, as well as in the state of Washington.

Deductions would be calculated from non-reimbursed medical and prescription drug expenses, non-reimbursed home care, and non-reimbursed amounts paid for nursing or adult family homes. These would require receipts and insurance proof that they were not reimbursed or claimed on 1040 income tax forms.  

-Create a user-friendly assessment notice

The current assessment notice includes just the prior assessed value and current assessed value. Berrios will redesign the notice to include assessment and appeal history for the past five years. It will also include sample comparables on each property owner’s block, including Recorder of Deeds transactions

-Heavily promote the long-time occupancy exemption

Currently, more than 270,000 people are eligible for this exemption, and are notified. However, only one-third of those eligible actually file for the exemption. Once elected, Berrios will create an intensive outreach program so that those eligible will actually apply for this exemption. While this isn’t solely a senior issue, Berrios would have his new senior outreach program work to ensure that seniors become aware of this exemption.

First-time collaboration: Chicago Chamber Choir and Milwaukee Choral Artists perform together  

Chicago, IL —To open its 15th season, the Chicago Chamber Choir (CCC), a skilled choral ensemble of 40 singers under the artistic director of Timm Adams, collaborates for the first time with the esteemed Milwaukee Choral Artists (MCA) for “Songs of War and Peace.” Performances take place October 23 in the Milwaukee area and October 24 in the Chicago area.

“Songs of War and Peace” is a special choral meditation on the human cost of war and the hope for peace. The program, featuring music inspired by conflict and the frailty of the human condition, will showcase the skill and creativity of CCC and MCA, separately and together. CCC will perform “Go Down, Moses” from Michael Tippett’s oratorio A Child of Our Time, “Alleluia” by Randall Thompson, “Find the Cost of Freedom” by Stephen Stills and others, while MCA will offer, among others, “Hard Times Come Again No More” by Stephen Foster, “Only Light, Only Love” (with the CCC women) by Joan Szymko and “August 1914” by Joel Boyd, winner of MCA’s Young Composer Contest for 2010. CCC and MCA will perform works together in Latvian, Greek, Hebrew and Latin. This diverse and emotional program includes music inspired by the ravages of several wars, including the Civil War, WWI, WWII, the Vietnam Conflict, as well as the wartime oppression of the Jews and the Greek women of Souli. The complete repertoire, subject to change, is enclosed. 

CCC’s 2010–11 season continues with “Canciones de Navidad: A Spanish Christmas,” the second in a series of Christmas Around the World concerts, December 12 at the Music Institute of Chicago and December 16 at St. Pauls United Church of Christ in Lincoln Park, and concludes with “Soar: Songs of Wind and Air,” the third concert program in its Singing the Elements series, April 9 at Our Lady of the Brook Parish in Northbrook and April 10 at Unity Lutheran Church in Andersonville.

Founded in 1996, the Chicago Chamber Choir promotes the joy of choral music by offering seasonal concerts and charitable performances that educate and entertain children and adults in the Chicagoland area. The choir’s repertoire is culturally diverse and international in scope. Seasonal concerts feature a balance of sacred and secular works, including time-honored classics as well as contemporary selections. As part of its mission, CCC actively seeks performance venues that bring music to under-served individuals and communities. The choir has performed in Chicago’s inner-city schools, retirement homes, homeless shelters and rehabilitation centers. Artistic Director Timm Adams, who has conducted CCC since 2000, is associate professor of music at Rockford College, where he teaches private voice and music theory, conducts three choirs and musical-directs the Performing Arts Department’s mainstage musicals.

CCC’s most recent CD, Hymns & Spirituals: Strength for the Journey, showcases its strongest repertoire: a collection of beloved and soul-stirring hymns and spirituals. Among the highlights are “My Soul’s Been Anchored in the Lord,” “Give Me Jesus,” “Ride the Chariot” and “There is a Balm in Gilead.” The CD is $15 and is available at CCC’s concerts as well as chicagochamberchoir.org.

The Milwaukee Choral Artists (MCA), under the direction of Founder Sharon A. Hansen, is Wisconsin’s premier professional choral ensemble and one of only a handful of professional women’s choral ensembles in the country. Founded in 1998 as a chamber ensemble of professional solo singers, MCA is regularly hailed for its imaginative programming and has quickly established itself in the mainstream of professional music making both within and beyond Milwaukee. Milwaukee Choral Artists enjoys regular appearances with Present Music, Milwaukee’s internationally acclaimed contemporary music ensemble. The Milwaukee Choral Artists performs three regular season concerts each year at historic venues throughout the Milwaukee area. Committed to presenting music from diverse cultures, the ensemble has performed music in 28 languages from more than 40 world cultures since its inception. For more information, visit milwaukeechoralartists.org.

The Chicago Chamber Choir presents “Songs of War and Peace” with the Milwaukee Choral Artists Saturday, October 23 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church, 1615 N. Wauwatosa Avenue in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin and Sunday, October 24 at 4 p.m. at the Music Institute of Chicago’s Nichols Concert Hall, 1490 Chicago Avenue in Evanston. Tickets for the October 23 performance are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and $15 for students, and are available by calling 262-628-5022 or visiting milwaukeechoralartists.org. Tickets for the October 24 performance are $18 in advance, $20 at the door, and $15 for students and groups of 10 or more. Season subscriptions for all three of CCC’s Chicago-area concerts are $50 for adults, $40 for students. Tickets and information are available at chicagochamberchoir.org or 312-409-6890.

Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez recently met with guests from South Africa during their Chicago visit. The group learned about the judicial system in Cook County by touring several facilities, including the Cook County Juvenile Center, local suburban courthouses and the Chicago Police Department.

Pictured (left to right) are: Mpho Malaoa, Malibongwe Women’s Development Organization; State’s Attorney Alvarez; Beatrice Truter, Councilwoman, Women’s Development Issues; and Leonard Maart, Chairman, Community Police Forum and Pastor of Presbyterian Church Elsies River.

Scholarships are for graduates of Evanston and Chicago High Schools

Evanston, IL –  Northwestern University will offer significantly increased financial aid to incoming freshmen who graduate from high schools in Evanston and Chicago, including eliminating loans and required work-study jobs and providing more scholarship funds. As a result, many students from those communities who need financial assistance will receive a scholarship that covers the full cost of tuition at Northwestern.

The new Good Neighbor, Great University Scholarship Program, which will begin with next year’s freshman class, will provide additional scholarship funds to students who need financial assistance. The scholarships will replace student loans, as well as earnings from summer and work-study jobs that students normally must contribute to the cost of their education. Eliminating these components and replacing them with more scholarship funds could save a student as much as $7,500 per year, or $30,000 over four years. In addition, by eliminating loans, it means that students will not face the challenge of paying off student loan debt as soon as they graduate from college.

The creation of the Good Neighbor, Great University Scholarship program was a key recommendation of an all-University task force on diversity and inclusion that was co-chaired by Northwestern President Morton Schapiro and Penelope Peterson, dean of Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy. The task force, which considered a variety of ways to increase diversity in the student population at Northwestern, included students, faculty, staff and members of Northwestern’s Board of Trustees.

“Evanston and Chicago are homes to our campuses, and as such, we want to reach out to students from those communities,” President Schapiro said. “By instituting this program, we hope to remove any barriers regarding affordability that would prevent those students from being able to attend Northwestern.”

Students who graduate from either a public or private high school in the cities of Chicago and Evanston and who enter Northwestern as a first-year students starting in fall 2011 will be eligible for the Good Neighbor, Great University scholarships. Students must be admitted to Northwestern through either regular admission or the early decision process.

“Northwestern has a long-standing commitment to enrolling the very brightest students from around the world, regardless of their family’s financial circumstances and this new program is an extension of this commitment,” said Michael Mills, associate provost for enrollment management. “Students from low- and moderate-income families face significant obstacles on the road to earning a college degree, and we hope that this new scholarship makes their journey a little easier.”

Northwestern hopes to provide the Good Neighbor, Great University scholarships to approximately 100 first-year students fall 2011 and perhaps increase it to as many as 200 in the future, Mills said. Approximately 2,000 first-year students enroll at Northwestern each year.

An important component of the Good Neighbor, Great University initiative will be increased support programs for students, noted Peterson. “We want to ensure that we give these students strong academic, social and personal support once they get to Northwestern,” she said. “We want all our students to be successful and feel included.”

For information on the Good Neighbor, Great University Scholarships, go to: http://ug-finaid.northwestern.edu/ on the web.

Study Confirms State’s Financial Situation is ‘Obscene”

Chicago, IL - The Institute for Truth in Accounting released Illinois‘ “Financial State of the State“, which answers the question, “Is the state bankrupt?”  The Institute’s reports the state has only $20 billion of assets to cover $140.6 billion in bills —- a $120.6 billion shortfall.  Each Illinois taxpayer’s share is $29,200.

This precarious financial position falls under one definition of bankruptcy —- A debtor that does not have the financial means to pay their bills as they come due.  The Institute’s detailed study of Illinois’ June 30, 2009 audited financial report and retirement systems’ actuarial reports found the state does not have the $120.6 billion needed to pay for its liabilities as they come due.

 “The state has incurred billions of dollars of liabilities and does not have the means to meet these liabilities,” said Sheila Weinberg, founder & CEO of the Institute.

On July 2 Comptroller Dan Hynes admitted that the state did not have $5 billion to pay bills that were due.  In a New York Times interview Hynes stated, “This is not some esoteric budget issue; we are not paying bills for absolutely essential services,” He underscored, “That is obscene.”

“Our study of the Illinois budget processes and financial reports found our governor and legislators continue to damage the state by not following the state budget law,” stressed Weinberg.  “Their total disregard of Illinois’ balanced budget requirement has resulted in a financial hole that may be insurmountable.” 

The Institute’s study revealed that each year when calculating a balanced budget the governor and legislators routinely overlook billions of dollars of payroll costs, including earned retirement benefits.  Bill Gates recently called this practice “accounting fraud”.  The Institute’s chair, Roger Nelson, commented, “We must stop this practice, which our elected officials have used to pretend they have balanced the budget, while not providing the necessary funding for $100 billion retirement benefits promised our state employees and teachers.”

The Illinois’ Financial State of the State can be found on the Institute’s website:  http://www.truthinaccounting.org/    Research comments can be found at:  http://illinois.statebudgetwatch.org/

About the Institute for Truth in Accounting

The Institute for Truth in Accounting (IFTA) is dedicated to promoting honest, accurate, and transparent accounting at all levels of government and business.  As a non-partisan, non-profit organization, the IFTA works to expose accounting deficiencies while promoting better, more accessible delivery of accurate government financial data-and, in turn, providing a foundation for more informed public policy.  The IFTA provides its expertise to develop more effective accounting standards and deliver accurate government financial information to policymakers, opinion leaders, and citizens, so they can all work for a more secure financial future. To learn more, please visit our website at www.TruthInAccounting.org.

1500 Skokie Boulevard, Suite 304
Northbrook, IL  60062
847-835-5200

Also favors more transparency and immediate cost-savings.

 Illinois State Representative David Miller, Democratic nominee for State Comptroller, is in favor of the proposal to merge the offices of Treasurer and Comptroller.

“I am in favor of merging the two offices, and if State Senator Kwame Raoul’s bill to do just that comes before the Illinois House I will support that measure,” said Miller.

“The Treasurer’s office and the Comptroller’s office were created as separate offices in the aftermath of the Orville Hodge embezzlement scandal (http://www.time.com/time/ magazine/article/0,9171, 867023,00.html). In this current era of George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich pay-to-play insider politics, we have to have open and transparent government. Illinoisans are universally tired of headlines about ethics scandals, and that’s why I introduced a proposal last week to put all government salaries and contracts on line. To make consolidation effective, we need to turn the page on the politics of the past.”  

“We must also be realistic about the impact of consolidating the two offices. Consolidation of the two offices will first require a constitutional amendment to be approved by the people of Illinois. Assuming voter approval, we wouldn’t see any savings to the taxpayers through consolidation for at least four years.  We shouldn’t wait four years to start saving taxpayer dollars.”

“That’s why I’m for immediate cost savings, not just those we might achieve four or more years from now. That’s why I have championed cost-savings by eliminating the redundancies in both offices and improving technology to cut down on costs. 

“Health care service providers, and other providers of key services, need help now. They can’t wait four years to be rescued from this fiscal quicksand.”

You can check local Cash Dash listings for name; new online process makes filing claims easier

 Residents who find their names in Cash Dash lists published in Cook and collar county newspapers on Aug. 28 and 29 now have an easier way to claim their lost money and assets, Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias said.

 Giannoulias’ office has revamped its Cash Dash website to offer online filing and tracking of Cash Dash claims. Visitors to www.cashdash.net now have the option of setting up an online account which quickly allows them to learn if their claim has been received, processed or approved. 

“With better technology in place, it’s easier for Illinois residents to file claims and to be reunited with their property faster than ever before,” Giannoulias said. “In these tough economic times, it’s important that we do everything we can to return this money to Illinois families that could really use it.”

 Twice a year in February and August, the Treasurer’s Office is required by law to publish the names of individuals who were reported to the state in the last six months and whose claims are worth more than $100.  

During the week of Aug. 29, more than 62,000 names of newly reported unclaimed property owners will be published in the Sun-Times, Daily Herald, Herald-News and Kendall County Record. The claimants are owed a total of more than $35 million. 

Ken Smith of Chicago was shocked to see his name listed this year in a February publication. It turned out that his late father had left him stock in McDonalds and money in two bank accounts totaling more than $17,000.  

“It’s been a rough last couple of years and it helped out a lot,” Smith said of the unexpected windfall. “I got one charge card all the way paid off and another paid down quite a bit.”

The State Treasurer’s Office currently holds $1.4 billion dollars in unclaimed property belonging to more than 10 million Illinois residents and businesses.

 In 2009, the Treasurer’s office returned nearly $83 million in lost assets to more than 39,000 Illinois residents and businesses. Thanks to expansive outreach efforts, $255 million has been returned to claimants under the Giannoulias administration – more than was returned in the first 39 years of the program.  

Unclaimed property consists of money and other assets held by banks and other businesses that are considered lost or abandoned after an owner cannot be located for more than five years. This typically includes forgotten bank accounts, safe deposit box contents or paid-up life insurance policies. When such items go unclaimed, they are sent to the Treasurer’s Office for distribution. 

Residents who want more information on unclaimed property should contact the Treasurer’s Office by visiting www.treasurer.il.gov and following the Cash Dash link or calling (866) 458-7327.