Major school referendums are on the ballot across northern Illinois. What are they asking voters?
Issuing new bonds
The ballot questions with the biggest price tags are about issuing bonds. Basically, school districts are asking to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars for major projects like new buildings and facility repairs that are too big to pay for through the school’s budget and reserves.
The Community Unit School District 300 — which is based in Algonquin, but includes parts of Kane, McHenry, Cook, and DeKalb counties — is seeking to issue $355,500,000 for classroom additions, building repairs, and the construction of a new Career and Technical Education center.
The Oswego Community Unit School District 308 — which covers portions of Kendall, Kane, and Will counties — is asking for $317 million for major repairs and improvements
The St. Charles School District — in Kane and DuPage counties — is seeking $282.5 million for repairs and the construction of a new athletic facility.
Yorkville’s school district — including parts of Kendall and Kane counties — wants to issue $159 million worth of bonds to help build two new schools: an elementary school and middle school.
The Waltham Community Consolidated District in LaSalle County is asking for $7,530,000 to build an addition on their K-18 school. On the western side of the state in Whiteside and Carroll counties, the Chadwick-Milledgeville School District is looking for $12,370,000 for facility repairs, expansions, and a new gymnasium.
The economy is one of the most important issues for many voters this midterm cycle, so any potential tax increase could be top of mind for many. That’s why several of these districts have said their plans will not come with a corresponding increase in property taxes, or have said any increases will be minimal.
Yorkville voters shot down a similar referendum in the spring, so the district returned with a scaled-back version to assuage fears of higher property taxes.
Several say the tax disruption will be smaller because they’d be borrowing the money at the same time as they pay off old debts — like paying off a car loan and then getting a new loan for that same amount.
Although Yorkville’s adamant their proposal is “tax neutral” — meaning it won’t raise property taxes — others acknowledge there would be a bump if their plan is approved. District 300 calculates the owner of a $400,000 home would pay about $100 extra per year and St. Charles says the owner of a $500,000 home in their district would see an increase of around $650 per year.
Many of the districts will also be contributing money from their reserves but not to cover the full cost.
Increasing the tax “limiting rate”
The Sandwich School District — which includes parts of DeKalb, LaSalle, and Kendall counties — has a referendum to increase their “limiting rate,” which means asking voters to increase the amount of property taxes they can legally raise. Sandwich wants to use that extra revenue, in this case approximately $19.6 million, to pay for facility repairs identified in a state health and safety audit.
These are mandated repairs, so the district has to spend the money either way, it’s just a matter of how. If the ballot measure fails, the district says they’ll have to pay for the repairs through a loan, which could be more expensive when factoring in interest.
Permission to deactivate a high school
In Lee County, voters are asked if they want to give the LaMoille School Board permission to deactivate their high school because of declining enrollment. An advisory referendum about the deactivation passed overwhelmingly this spring.
If the board voted to deactivate LaMoille High School, the students currently attending and set to attend would instead be sent to either Mendota High School, Hall High School, or Amboy High School — depending on where the student lives.
An advisory question about school administrators
In Boone County, voters are asked if the Illinois General Assembly should limit the percentage of a school district’s operating budget that can be spent on administration. It says the goal would be to direct more spending towards classroom teachers and reduce property taxes. Advisory referendums like this are non-binding, so it gauges how voters feel about particular issues -- they don’t mandate specific policy changes.
