As the editor of a government-funded information service for the residents of Kane County, I can’t help you decide who or what to vote for come April 7.

And, strictly speaking, I’m not supposed to even encourage you to vote. Getting out the vote is the job of partisan political parties and the calling of nonpartisan organizations like the League of Women Voters.

But probably what I can do is mention that, hey, there’s a local election coming up! And I can highlight existing government resources, help you find additional information and provide a few fun facts to make the process of participating in local government just a tad more interesting.

At the end of this article is a list of contested school board races in Kane County, which you can find on the Kane County Clerk’s Office and Aurora Election Commission websites. I’m pointing out that school board elections are in fact part of this April 7 ballot, and I’m offering (under the category of fun facts) four reasons those races might be of interest to Kane County residents. Who you vote for and whether you vote at all is entirely up to you.

(1) Schools typically accounts for 68 percent of your property tax bill.

It’s kind of interesting that, when we think about local government, the first names that come to mind are those that end up in the headlines — mayors and village presidents and the County Board chair and the like. But these fine elected officials don’t really hold a candle to the the local school board members as far as the money you pay for local-government services. As you can see by this chart, about 68.2 percent of your property-tax bill goes to schools.

Yet, when pressed, how many of us can name all the school board members in our district?

To help you with that, we’ve provided below a list of school board races in Kane County and the names of candidates in the April 7 election. For your convenience, we’ve also provided a list of contested school board races in the upcoming election.

A great resource for learning more about property taxes is the Property Tax FAQ that’s printed and published online through a joint effort of Supervisor of Assessments Mark Armstrong, Kane County Clerk John A. Cunningham and Kane County Treasurer David Rickert.

(2) The quality of your School District has an impact on the value of your property.

Obviously, there are a lot of factors that go into the value of your home. And a lot of reasons people decide to move into an area or flee from it.

But just as obviously, one of those factors is the quality of the local schools. That’s one reason School District U-46’s Family and Community Engagement Committee is holding a breakfast for real estate agents on April 8 — providing real estate agents with talking points about the U-46 “Academic Success for All” experience.

So, if you care about your property values, you might also care about the policy-making on your local school board. (Or not.) The following are some stories that talk about the relationship of schools and property values.

• The Right School District: How Much Do Schools Affect Real Estate Prices?, (realtor.com®, Aug., 2013).
• One Antidote to Foreclosures: Good Schools, (The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 16, 2011). 
• Do Schools Really Affect Property Values?, (BiggerPockets, Apr. 6, 2011).
• Good Schools, Bad Real Estate, (Wall Street Journal, June 25, 2010).
• Do good schools or good neighbors raise property values?, (UCLA / Dartmouth College, Apr. 2004).

SOURCE: Trulia

(3) Your kids’ (or your grandkids’ or your neighbor kids’) education is at stake.

When you vote in a school board election, you’re voting for the people who will determine the quality of local education. If you care about any or all of these issues — curriculum, school testing, staffing, transportation, special education, facilities, extracurricular programs — you have a stake in the April 7 election. For many parents, that’s not only tops on the priority list from a philosophical and emotional standpoint, but as an investment in your child’s future.

Just for the fun of it, I looked up “the cost of raising a child calculator” on the Internet. According to that rsource, the cost to educate a child from birth to age 18 these days for folks in our neck of the woods is $329,382 — about 25 percent of which is for education and childcare. So you’re looking at maybe an $81,000 investment, not including college. Just another good reason to vote (or not) on April 7.

(4) There are a bunch of contested races.

In some elections, you really don’t have a lot of choices. Maybe there are three people running for three seats, for example. That’s not the case this election season. There are nine school board elections in Kane County that will determine the makeup and philosophy of the board for the next four years. In alphabetical order, they are:

• Barrington School District 220 — five candidates, three seats
• Batavia School District 101 — eight candidates, three seats
• East Aurora School District 131 — nine candidates, four seats
• Elgin School District U-46 — eight candidates, four seats for four-year term; two candidates, one seat for two-year term
• Geneva School District 304 — seven candidates, three seats
• Hinckley-Big Rock District 429 — four candidates, three seats
• Kaneland School District 302 — eight candidates, four seats
• Oswego School District 308 — six candidates, three seats
• St. Charles School District 303 — 10 candidates, three seats

More Resources

I’m not endorsing any of the following places to find more information. I’m not advocating one source over another.  I’m just saying, here are some places Kane County residents can find more information about the April 7 elections.

• Kane County Clerk’s Office Election Pages
• Aurora Election Commission
• APhubs/KaneCountyIL
• Daily Herald Election 2015 Page
• Kane County Chronicle Election Central 2015
• Chicago Tribune Elections 2015