Tax Board Zaps Nuclear-Powered Ill. District

By Kerry A. White

Nuclear power in Byron, Ill., built a public school system so lavish it resembles a well-funded college.

Never mind bake sales, car washes, and auctions. Well-paid teachers and their 1,600 students in this small town for years have seemingly wanted for nothing: The shiny fleet of school buses stops at internally heated sidewalks that lead to a $6 million physical education center, generously stocked classrooms, computer and photography labs, and state-of-the-art school libraries.

All of this thanks to the Commonwealth Edison Co. and its nuclear-power plant, whose cooling towers loom over Byron. Property taxes generated by the giant utility have allowed the three-school district to spend $11,000 a year per student, more than twice...