Salt Creek School District 48 is placing a $48 million bond measure on the Nov. 5 ballot. If approved by taxpayers, the funds will be used to improve safety and security, ADA accessibility, traffic flow, physical education and academic programming.
“If the referendum is successful, the district will be equipped to meet the needs of students of today and in the future as enrollment continues to increase,” according to District 48’s web site.
To keep working towards its goal—”Teaching Tomorrow’s Leaders and ensuring the continued growth and success of every student”—the district said funds are needed to finance various projects that are on the horizon.
District administrators say sufficient reserves are not available to fund upcoming projects, and they feel waiting is not an option because the needs are immediate. If the referendum is not successful, the timeline will have to be extended, which could lead to escalated costs. Also the safety, educational, and accessibility issues will persist.
The referendum plan, approved by the Board of Education on Aug. 8, reflects the input of community stakeholders who collaborated with the district’s staff, architects, and financial advisors to identify high-priority needs and fiscally responsible solutions.
Some of the project plans include:
• Improving safety and security by adding secure vestibules at every building. Administrative offices will be relocated to be adjacent to the entrances, which will serve to better monitor visitors who come to the schools.
• Increasing Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility by updating toilet facilities and reconfiguring spaces to improve supervision by providing clear sight lines.
• Enhancing educational programming by creating grade-level centers aligned with student development as well as state standards.
The estimate cost of the proposed projects is $52 million, and the district is requesting taxpayer approval to issue bonds in the amount of $48 million to be repaid over 25 years. The district will invest $4 million of its own resources to pick up the remainder.
District 48 financial advisor Raymond James estimates that the average annual tax impact for home valued at $325,000 will be about $381 annually. A tax calculator and more information about the referendum can be found at District 48’s web site. Please note: most of the schools in District 48 lie in Villa Park and Oakbrook Terrace; therefore, the referendum is covered at the DuPage District 88 web site, which is dupage88.net.
