On Monday, October 24, 2011, more than 1,000 students, parents, educators, and community members from Community Unit School District 300 voluntarily traveled 200 miles downstate to lobby at the State Capitol against Amendment 3 of Senate Bill 540.  If approved, this controversial legislation would take over $200 million in school property taxes from D300 to support the Village of Hoffman Estates' operating budget for another 15 years, allow the Village to use school property taxes to buy and run the village-owned Sears Centre Arena, and allow Sears (which is headquartered in D300) to continue using school property taxes as its primary means of paying for its facility -- all without any auditing requirements.  The D300 group aspired to bring this Sears Economic Development Area (EDA) legislation to the attention of the lawmakers as they settled back into their offices for the veto session.  With signs and cheers and personal visits, the D300 community members wanted to persuade the lawmakers to go back to the drawing board and develop a new plan that spreads the responsibility of incentives for Sears across the entire state, rather than continuing to put nearly the full burden on D300 school property taxes for another 15 years. 23 years was long enough! Below are photos from this important day in D300 history.