Laura Schillmoeller

“I’m a single mom to my daughter, who is currently a senior in high school. I raised my daughter in Des Plaines, and my property taxes were around $7,500.”

“In 2016, when my daughter was in eighth grade, I moved to Rolling Meadows for a variety of reasons. But a primary reason was to get her into [Township High School] District 214, which is considered one of the premier high school districts in the state.”

“Things were going along fairly well. Like the average person, I never paid any attention to what my local school board was doing. I didn’t care, and I assumed everything was fine.”

“We downsized when we moved to Rolling Meadows, so I thought my property taxes would be a little bit lower, around $6,500, but they are $8,700.”

“Throughout the last few years, I started becoming increasingly educated about how out of whack our property taxes are considering our home values. Especially in comparison to what other states are requiring. Over the past few years I recognized that living in Illinois wouldn’t be financially sustainable anymore, and I needed to move.”

“I never thought I would be making that decision so quickly. I have an 87-year-old mother who lives in Arlington Heights and is in long-term care. I kind of had it in my mind that when my mother passed away or when my daughter goes off to college I would leave the state.”

“But the COVID-19 pandemic drastically accelerated my plans”

“When District 214 schools didn’t open this fall, I just started becoming outraged.”

“My daughter and I decided she would homeschool for her senior year because online school was insufficient. And I still have to pay property taxes.”

“I just don’t want to pay for these public schools anymore because I feel like they have completely let everybody down.”

“I’m done.”

“I chose to move to Indiana, not necessarily because Indiana is a super glamorous place to live, but I’m going to still be close enough geographically that I can come back to Illinois very easily to still see my mother. And I’m still going keep my Chicago-based job, so I will be able to come into the office as needed.”

“I kind of struck this happy medium between moving to a nearby state for a better quality of life, but still close enough that I can get back and forth to Chicago from my personal needs.”

“I spoke to my realtor, and he said I should be expecting a loss of at least $50,000 when I sell my townhome in Illinois.”
“Nonetheless, my new home in Chesterton will be a little bigger, and my property taxes should be less than half of what I pay now, around $3,500.”

Laura Schillmoeller
Vice president of data analytics
Rolling Meadows, Illinois