Kane County Reporter

Kris Rayman is a candidate for Batavia Public Schools District 101.

He has three children in the district in the 6th, 10th, and 11th grades. Rayman is on the April 4 ballot.

“We are failing our students academically,” Rayman told Kane County Reporter. “This community should not be okay with the fact that nearly 6 out 10 of our students are judged to be not proficient in English (ELA) or Math according to the official Illinois Report Card. Based on the focus of the district, the urgency to fix this is not paramount. Nothing else should take precedence over the educational fundamentals that are necessary for our children to succeed. Despite being significantly behind Geneva and St. Charles academically, taxpayers are paying nearly $900 per year per student more on average than those districts. We are paying more and getting less. Additionally, our district is not being transparent. I, and others, have pleaded with the district to be more forthcoming with information. We owe full transparency to parents and taxpayers. The district needs to get back to putting students and parents first.”

Rayman encourages a culture of transparency. He mentioned that "Parents and taxpayers deserve a board that fully represents them," no one " should not be telling them half-truths about the bond referendum. Tell them ALL of the facts and trust that they can make the best decision for them and their family.” Transparency will help improve the system, a system wherein the core should be the student's quality education. 

“By returning the focus to academics, we will raise our test scores and better prepare our students for life after high school," he said. "We need to stop lowering our standards to maintain our graduation rates - we need to maintain high standards and push our students to achieve them. We will do this while being better stewards of the taxpayers' money. Expenses will align with initiatives that improve our students' academic achievement, and costs will be closely analyzed. If money is needed to be borrowed again, it will be requested based on need; we will not find 'needs' based on how much money we can borrow." 

Rayman is proud to "have been actively involved in the Batavia community with parents and students for 17 years." According to him, he has "a strong understanding of the balance they want from their schools. In 20 years of management at work, I have been a part of many committees. Being able to listen, truly listen, to various viewpoints with the capability to guide various groups to consistent consensus or near-consensus decisions is a key reason why I've been asked to be on so many committees. I do this with a logic-based approach to each and every situation."  

He pledged not to "let emotion get involved while managing millions of our community's dollars and, most importantly, the educational foundation of our children." He also sees it fit to leverage his finance background in ensuring that there would be "a balance between how we tax our residents and how we best spend our limited money for the greatest benefit for the students.” Rayman told the Daily Herald he feels the school district is “failing our students academically.”

He is an Industrial Manufacturing Account Director at Oracle. “Have managed teams of eight to ten Field Sales Executives who represent Oracle's Applications (ERP, EPM, SCM, HCM and CX) to Enterprise accounts throughout North America. Our organization aligns with leaders of organizations in defining their plans to transform their enterprise applications landscape. Our approach is to act as business partners who provide onsite consultative engagements that drive operational improvements in Finance, Supply Chain, Human Resources, and Sales Operations,” his LinkedIn profile reads.

Batavia USD 101 includes eight schools overseeing more than 5,000 students. Its headquarters is located at 335 W Wilson St. in Batavia.