I hate to be the one to dampen Christmas spirit so soon after Thanksgiving. But you will thank me later.

The District 181 Board of Education is talking out of both sides of its collective mouth, just in time for the season of giving. It wants you and I to give (again), while it takes (again). Sound familiar?

Back in early November, we heard this: "We think reducing our deficit by $1.8 million is achievable, and we have to manage against the situation we have,” said School Board President Marc Monyek (Suburban Life).

Those of us who expect elected members of our Board to act in a fiscally responsible manner applauded Mr. Monyek. Finally, a Board President who gets it.

But by pre-Thanksgiving, the turkey talk was back. We learned this:

The ... Board is seeking to approve a balloon tax levy of $56.5 million, a 6.8 percent increase from last year's levy to show the district's need to continue programs. "It's another opportunity to continue making a point that we're in deficit and we have needs," board member Yvonne Mayer said (The Doings).

Repeat the "logic" after me. We are IN deficit AND we have NEEDS. Gosh, that sounds familiar. Where have I heard that approach to governance by expanding deficits? Ah, of course. It is what politicians in Washington rally around. The federal deficit is 11 trillion+ AND we have NEEDS. So what to do? Another stimulus? A $1.1 billion health "care" reform bill? A carbon tax?

Be sure of one thing, friends. The School Board has set a hearing on its pending levy (which it knows is off the sanity charts) for 7 p.m., Mon., December 14, confident there is a very good chance that the vast majority of taxpayers will be too consumed by Christmas and holiday activities to notice. If you choose not to stand up, you signal acceptance of the Board’s current behavior, attitudes and philosophies. If we do not demand fiscal prudence now – i.e., meaningful budget slashing -- an even larger battle for our tax dollars looms when District 181 comes to us with another referendum down the road.

We have a deficit AND we have NEEDS. We need a Board that attacks its deficit spending aggressively. We need a Board that recognizes the American economy is taking a beating and that negligence in Washington is trickling down to tiny Planet Hinsdale and its environs. We need a Board that is not intimidated by the staged outrage of the teachers' union, which already has begun dispatching teachers to get out and plead for their NEEDS to be met. Every last single one of them.

What is disturbing is that our Board would approve going forward with a grossly inflated levy request (by a 6-1 vote) when it knows it never will get the entire balloon levy amount. In The Doings, the District's assistant superintendent for business was quoted saying he expects the final levy to come in around 0.8 percent (not 6.8%).

This Dec. 14th citizens need to put aside egg nogs and champagne flutes for an hour or two and line up at the hearing, in Tea Party mode, to let it be known we can't go on pretending that every day is Dec. 25th.