To the Editor:

On Oct. 16th, a community came together and civilly discussed the challenges we face and the way to solve those problems. Obviously, I am not talking about the Town Hall Meeting debate between presidential candidates. Instead, I am talking about the meeting of Citizens for Somonauk District 432 schools, where Ron Anderson, Roger Rankin and Dick Underwood expressed support for the upcoming Somonauk School District tax referendum, which is designed to increase the maximum tax rate for the Education Fund so as to avoid deep cuts in programs and staff. Already, $1.8 million has been cut from the budget because of declining property values caused by the recession.

Anderson was recently honored by the Somonauk Education Foundation for his 26 years of teaching at the Somonauk schools. Anderson spoke of how the village contributes to the strength of its schools, and how the schools contribute to the growth of the community by attracting families looking for good schools. He also noted that, unlike some other taxes, the real estate taxes apportioned to the schools stay within our community.