So concerned are its members that fellow citizens might wish to vocalize opinions on matters of importance to our community, the District 181 Board of Education now circulates a one-page, single-spaced document “summarizing” rules for public discourse.

Particularly notable is the reminder that “the Board President may shorten an individual’s opportunity to speak”. Who writes this stuff, the scripting team from The Sopranos?

Given the ramblings we heard from Board members Monday night during a “special meeting”, it is obvious that we need to put a clock on them, not the other way around. It was like watching group therapy.

Through incompetence and neglect, the State of Illinois has plunged into the fiscal abyss. Somehow, that news had not penetrated the utopian bubble that some folks believe protects District 181 communities from reality. Until now.

There was shock and dismay Monday night when the bubble was shattered by news that the State’s 2010-11 funding to the district will be $1,318,107 less than anticipated.

After years of being lorded over by teachers unions that demand ever-increasing salaries and benefits – rewarding poor, average and excellent teachers equally – school districts across Illinois and the nation face massive budget deficits compounded by loss of revenue from states teetering toward bankruptcy. Many school districts are making the only logical choice, with the full consent of their fellow citizens. They are cutting jobs, starting with the untenured, and shelving plans to replace tenured teachers on the verge of retirement.

On Monday night, the District 204 board in Naperville moved to cut 145 jobs. Other area boards are acting similarly. Meanwhile, as we dusted bits of bubble debris off our clothing, District 181 Board members remained unsure of what to do, as if our district enjoys infinite options compared to everyone else.

The obvious analogy is that the plane is about to crash and burn, but District 181, oblivious as it reclines in the First Class cabin, is still asking for warm cashews and fully expecting to walk away unscathed from the crash site.

Wake up!

In as much as the Board takes the time to remind we mere taxpayers of the strict limits on our freedom of speech, let me remind this Board that its members took a sworn oath upon being elected and seated. Our Board members have sworn to “faithfully discharge the duties of the office” and, most importantly, to “respect taxpayer interests by serving as faithful protector(s) of the School District’s assets.”

Our assets here in 2010 are limited and in dire need of protectors, yet on Monday night at least one Board member strongly advocated dipping into a $17 million reserve fund to forestall “non-renewal” of teacher contracts, a fancy code phrase meaning job cuts. In other words, let’s deficit-spend our way out of this.

Others seem to embrace the clarion cry of public trough addicts who repeatedly stand up and call for a tax referendum, a deficit reduction “solution” that sounds like a Hail Mary if ever there was one.

Those in our community who advocate fiscal sanity and are seated nervously in “economy class” need to see some backbone before we permit utterance of the dreaded R-word.

We need to see legitimate spending cuts on top of the $1.8 million cuts previously approved. Compared to 145 in Naperville, our district can make up for lost state funding with as few as 13 or 14 “non-renewals”. Even though a majority of the Board’s members have vested interested in sustaining it, we need to see a hatchet taken to an unsustainable Rolls Royce “gifted” program that has drained millions of taxpayer dollars from the budget, all in the name of addressing the educational objectives of a fraction of the District 181 student body.

And, finally, we need to see a commitment to restructuring salary, benefit and pension spending that sets our school district on a steady fiscal course in the years ahead. We need to see a Board that will stand up to the union entitlement mentality by negotiating a freeze on salaries and benefits, and adopting realistic pension funding for teachers hired in the future.

Board President Marc Monyek, appearing frustrated by fellow Board members who advocate waiting for more public input, on Monday night rebuked, “I think we are elected to make decisions.” He could not be more right.

The District 181 Board has a lot of work to do and vital decisions to make. My advice is to worry less about watching the clock during public comments and to focus more on the precious little time that remains to avert a crisis by adhering to the oath to which you are sworn.