Mr. Jarratt,

In response to your request for financial documents and data concerning
District 1 bonds, I offer the following information:

 1. Total dollar amount of bonds issued.  Presumably you are referring
to the sale of building bonds approved by the voters on November 7,
1997.  The amount of the issue for "General Obligation School Building
Bonds, Series 1997" was for $5,855,000.  There was also a Life Safety
Bond Issue in 2000 for the amount of $325,000.  I have attached a very
detailed report, dated April 2006, concerning our school district's
outstanding debt (see WHSD1 Outstanding Debt).  This document includes a
wealth of information and it should answer all of your questions
regarding our district's long term debt.  If it does not, give me a
call.

2. Total dollar amount approved by voters.  As you can see by the below
referendum question, the total amount requested and approved by the
voters exactly matches the amount of the bond issue:

"Shall the Board of Education of Winthrop Harbor School District Number
1, Lake County, Illinois, renovate the Westfield and Spring Bluff
facilities, build and equip a new sixth, seventh and eight grade
building on land presently owned by said School District and issue the
bond of said School District to the amount of $5,855,000 for said
purpose?"

3. The premiums received by the district for each bond issue.  District
1 does not engage in the practice of using bond proceeds for anything
other than their intended purpose.  As you can see by the above
information and in the documentation provided, there is no attempt on
the district's part to use "premiums" as a means to generate additional
revenue at the expense of the taxpayers.

All "transaction residuals" (as they are sometimes called) resulting
from the sale of bonds between the time of their offer and market
closing, only amount to a few thousand dollars at best.  These proceeds,
if any, are immediately disbursed back out at 100% of their value to
their associated debt account.

4. The interest rate (compound or simple).  Originally the 1997 bonds
were being paid back at a variable rate of between 4.8% to 9.0%.  I
recommended that the Board refinance at the earliest possible date
because I did not believe these were desirable rates by today's
standards.  Unfortunately, the penalties and call dates associated with
the bond issue made any re-issue financially imprudent until quite
recently.  We closely monitored the short and long term bond markets for
many months waiting for the optimum time to engage in a refunding
effort.  That opportunity came in January 2006, and we were successful
in restructuring the remaining $4,020,000 building bond debt that will
save the taxpayers $197,190 in principal and interest expenses over the
remaining life of the issue (12 yrs).

5. Bond retirement schedule.  See attached files "WHSD1 Outstanding
Debt" and "WHSD1 2005 Audit."

Regarding your other requests:

1. Financial Documents from website.  See attached file "WHSD1 2005
AFR," which is the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) required
Annual Financial Report.  See attached file "WHSD1 FY '06 Budget," which
is the ISBE required Annual School District Budget for 2005-2006.

Finally, I have placed on our website a sample of the detailed monthly
revenue and expense report I provide the WHSD Board of Education on a
monthly basis as part of my board packet.  This report provides a
detailed narrative analysis of financial operations, along with a series
of easily understood "cost centered" spreadsheets that display budget
vs. actual statistics and a comparison to the previous year's
operations.  See attached file "Jan06FinancialReport."

I am currently in the process of preparing my packet for this Monday's
board meeting, which will include a similar report on the month of April
2006.  If you like, I will forward you a copy of this report as well.

2. Financial Documents from last year. See attached file "WHSD1 2005
Audit," which contains the full 56 page independent audit for our last
fiscal year, prepared by the accounting firm Evoy, Kamschulte, Jacobs &
Co. LLP.

Breakdown of revenue/expenditures according to tax bill levy funds.  See
the 2005 Audit for a complete breakdown of revenue and expenditures by
fund.  Detailed balance sheets for each fund can be found on pages 44 -
51.

3.  Any other document you think would be appropriate.  I believe you
have all of the appropriate documents attached to this email.

5. Does the district use cash or accrual accounting?  District 1 uses
the "Cash Basis" of accounting, as do most school districts in the
state.

Please let me know if I can be of further assistance,

Yours for Better Education,

James P. Tenbusch, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Winthrop Harbor School District No. 1
500 North Avenue
Winthrop Harbor, IL 60096
847.731.3085 Voice
847.731.3156 Fax