Stewardson and Strasburg, Illinois are two small communities (less than 1,000 population) that joined their school systems together many years ago to try to save money while providing a quality education for their students.  

While the school district faces declining enrollment (and declining revenue), the parents are committed to preserving and enhancing the educational environment.  Toward that end, the parents formed an organization SOSS (Supporters of Stewardson Strasburg).  This group dedicates hundreds of hours to working the concession stands at St. Louis Rams football games to raise needed funds for their school's improvement.

Through their hard work, they raised $40,000 and decided that they wanted a nice sign for the front of their school (something the school district could not afford to purchase).  So they bought the sign and found a local sign company to install it.

Let no good deed go unpunished!  The Illinois Department of Labor has now contacted the parents group to inform them that the sign was illegally installed because "prevailing wage" labor was not used.  In Illinois, the union's have forced all public entities to pay "prevailing wage" rates (read union scale) for any work done on their grounds.    This gives the union firms a fighting chance to land some of the work.

However, the "prevailing wage" rates necessarily inflate the cost of all work done for school districts.  In fact, prevailing wage rates increase the costs of construction by 35% or more.  As a result, many small school districts simply can't afford needed construction or even repairs. 

And now, because of the Department of Labor case, members of the parents group are having to retain legal counsel to defend themselves.  

So the parents:
        1. Paid property taxes to support their school district
        2. Paid State Income taxes to fund the department of labor
        3. and work long hours to raise money for the school district
 
In return, they are now "investigated" because of their "illegal" activity.  

Here's an article on the travesty!