Northwest Herald Campaign Questionnaire

Name: Nancy Zettler

Age: 60

Town: Algonquin

Office sought: Member of D300 Board of Education

Occupation: Attorney

Education: BS – Art, Illinois State University, 1980

Juris Doctorate, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, 1990

Associates Degree - Horticulture, College of DuPage, 2009

Elected offices held: I am a Dundee Township Committeewoman.

Social Media:  Facebook: Nancy Zettler for CUSD 300!

Questions:

1. What is your largest priority for District 300 if elected?

Making sure that our schools are properly funded while lessening the burden on property taxpayers. It can be done if the state pays the 51 percent it is mandated to pay under the Illinois Constitution and if we do away with TIFs and other corporate “incentives” and “subsidies” that divert corporate property tax dollars away from schools and into corporate coffers.

2. What changes should District 300 make in the future?

In general, I think that D300 is doing a good job. I’d like to see STEM programs be strengthened. I’d like to see more programs developed for kids who do not want to attend 4-year universities. I’d like to see rules implemented for use of cell phones in class and a better program to deal with bullying.

3. What direction do you believe that District 300 should head in the future with its property tax levy if enrollment projections hold?

Levies are determined by far more than just the number of kids enrolled in schools. The amount of money the district gets from the state, and the timeliness of those payments is relevant as is the curriculum for each student group. I would always like to see the district get as much for it’s educational dollar as possible. I think the district does a pretty good job of that already.

4. How do you feel District 300 should handle transparency with hiring, firings and both teacher and administrator contracts?

In general, an individual’s privacy right outweighs any right to know personal information about people being hired and fired by the district. I believe that teacher and administrator contracts are already online.

5. What makes you stand out compared to the other District 300 candidates?

I have been involved in D300 for two decades. Both of my kids went to school here from 1st grade to high school graduation. I value this district and want to serve it any way I can.

From 2005 through 2013, I was a Co-Chair and then Chair of Advance 300, a community group formed to support District 300. As a leader of that group, I took a 6 month hiatus from my law practice in 2005 and 2006 to work with hundreds of other D300 stakeholders to pass two crucial referenda to bring the district back from the brink of a State take-over and built new schools, repaired and added on to existing schools, reduced class sizes, while establishing and building a financial reserves and working with the district to make it one of the most transparent in the state.

In 2011, I worked to fight the renewal of the Sears EDA. While we weren’t able to stop the renewal, we were able to get D300 a seat at the negotiating table and recapture millions a year that the district wouldn’t have otherwise gotten.

I’d like to get a deeper knowledge of the district and help wherever I can. Becoming a member of the BOE seems like a logical step.

6. What else should voters know about you? 

I currently substitute teach in the district on a part-time basis, something that I will not continue to do if elected. I believe that my experience in D300 classrooms gives me a different perspective as to what students and educators go through on a daily basis.