The Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 Board held a workshop meeting on June 28 at the District 205 Center, 162 S. York St. Board member Karen Stuefen was absent from the meeting, which lasted more than four hours.
The board held the workshop meeting to discuss elements of its proposed master facility plan. The most expensive option in the proposed plan would cost about $168.5 million, and would include complete replacements of Lincoln Elementary School and Field Elementary School. A voter-approved referendum would be required to allow the district to borrow the money to pay for any of its proposed renovation options.
If the board wants to put a referendum question on the ballot in the November 2018 election, it would have to write the specific ballot question and adopt a resolution no later than Aug. 20. The board’s last scheduled meeting before that deadline is Aug. 14. The district’s consultants have advised the board to propose a referendum question during a high-turnout election. The election in the spring of 2019 is not expected to produce a high turnout. If the board, therefore, decides not to place a question on the ballot this November, it would likely wait until at least the election in the spring of 2020, or the fall of 2020, to propose a referendum.
By the numbers…
According to information provided by the district, the $168.5 million option would have an additional tax impact of about $150 on the owner of a home valued at $500,000. The district would reportedly pay back the borrowed money over a period of 25 years.
The district’s outstanding referendum-approved bonds, which were approved in 2000 and 2006, will mature in 2024.
Involvement of community to continue
Board President Kara Caforio noted at the beginning of the meeting that the process to develop a master facility plan, which began about three years ago, has included community involvement in the form of meetings, listening sessions and surveys.
In its only vote of the June 28th workshop meeting, Board members voted to approve the expense of up to $22,500 to conduct a phone poll of district residents this month to obtain feedback. The poll will reportedly gather feedback from 300 residents. Results of that poll will be provided to the board by Aug. 9. Five board members approved the expenditure for the telephone poll. Margaret Harrell voted present.
Board rejects expenditure for work to accelerate timeline
The board rejected a proposal to spend $1 million from its fund balance to pay for design work to accelerate the timeline for the project. The $1 million would be spent before the potential passage of a referendum. If a referendum did pass, the referendum funds would be used to replenish the district’s fund balance. Board member Jim Collins said he was not willing to spend $1 million for the design plans before the passage of a referendum. He said if a referendum did not pass, the district would lose $1 million it could have spent on something else.
Staff to study options for Field School
The board also directed district staff to pursue the option of building a new Field School instead of renovating the school. Building a brand new school reportedly will cost about $7.4 million more ($29 million) than renovating the school ($21.6 million). Collins said it doesn’t make sense to put an addition on the school, which is nearly 90 years old.
All-day kindergarten, boundary adjustments
In addition to discussing the spending element of a referendum proposal, the board discussed the related issues of boundary adjustments for elementary schools and the potential of offering all-day kindergarten. The district currently offers half-day kindergarten. Superintendent David Moyer said that if the district were to offer all-day kindergarten at neighborhood schools, boundary adjustments would be required. Caforio said that community feedback has shown that residents want neighborhood schools within walking distance of their homes. Board member Chris Blum said that in order to minimize class sizes, some boundary lines would have to be adjusted, although those adjustments shouldn’t affect anyone who currently lives in the district. Blum stated that he supported a grandfathering policy for current homeowners; if they bought their homes believing their children would attend a certain school, those children would be able to attend that school.
Kindergarten tuition discussed
In discussing all-day kindergarten, board members noted the district had a plan to charge tuition for all-day kindergarten. Moyer gave an estimate of $3,500 for the tuition cost per child for all-day kindergarten. There are approximately 600 kindergarten-age children in the district. Collins brought up the option of offering substantial discounts for families who could not afford tuition for all-day kindergarten. He also noted that Barrington’s school district charges a fee for all-day kindergarten; about 55 percent of that district’s families with kindergarten-age children pay to enroll their children in all-day kindergarten.
Board member John McDonough said he would be in favor of the district covering the cost of all-day kindergarten for all students in the district. Caforio said the board would save the discussion of tuition for all-day kindergarten for an upcoming meeting.
The board will hold its next regular meeting on July 17.
