Several school districts in northern Illinois had major referendums on the mid-term ballot, including a few to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars for major projects like new buildings and facility repairs.
Voters in the Oswego School District approved a plan to borrow over $300 million worth of bonds — mostly for repairs.
Theresa Komitas, the district's director of community and public relations, says they’ve had a few significant systems break down over the past few years, which have caused real disruptions. Last year, Oswego East High School flooded and students had to learn remotely for a few days. Whenever it rains, she says they get nervous about 17 of their buildings.
“Even, one teacher shared with us," said Komitas, "it's a fish tank she has in her room because it rains right in the same spot every time. So, she's got a fish tank there to catch that water to prevent damage to their stuff."
She says Oswego spent the better part of three years planning this, from facility tours to a task force including staff and families that helped build the $317 million proposal, which Komitas says will take eight years to fully implement.
Across northern Illinois, some referendums passed and some failed. The ones voters confirmed seemed to be the plans that promised no property tax increases — especially since the economy was one of the most important issues for many voters.
Oswego’s passed pretty easily. The school district convinced voters that approving their plan would actually cause taxes to go down, because it was happening at the same time the district was paying off older, slightly larger debts.
That was not the case with the St. Charles School district.
“If I had an opportunity to run a ‘no tax’ increase referendum, I wouldn't have all this gray hair," said St. Charles superintendent Paul Gordon. His district failed to pass a $282.5 million bond referendum for repairs and the construction of a new athletic facility.
It would have increased property taxes more than $600 per year for residents with a home valued at $500,000. Gordon knew that, in this environment, it was a really tough ask but felt it was their best option to repair decades of deferred maintenance.
He says voters have shot down several referendums over the years. In 2016, the district decided not to extend previous bonds. That lowered taxes but also meant less money for maintenance — which helped create a $100 million backlog.
Gordon says many residents were shocked to learn about the extent of the district's infrastructure issues.
“From the perspective of our community and many communities around us," said the superintendent, "St. Charles is kind of like one of those school districts that sit up on the hill and it's all shiny and pretty looking from the outside."
He says it was really hard to tell that story to the community, particularly to folks who don’t have kids in school. They had webinars, meetings, and mailers, but it doesn’t always work — especially when the first time those people hear from the district, they’re asking to raise taxes.
“I think our community thinks the district has done something wrong," he said. "And I'm like, across the United States, across Illinois, referendums are a very normal way of operating. It's once every 25 to 30 years. This is how you have to do business.”
After a failed vote, the problems don’t go away, and they only have a few options left. They could keep devoting more money to maintenance in their budget, pass bonds with a school board vote, or return to voters with a revamped referendum.
That’s what the Yorkville School District just did. They successfully passed a $159 million proposal to build two new schools — but only after a vote failed in the spring.
The original, more expensive version included new schools, but also additions to the high school and other repairs. It would have increased taxes. They had around 100 people come to town halls. It was contentious; the referendum was barely supported by the school board.
So, when it failed, superintendent Matt Zediker says they talked to residents and came back with a slimmed-down plan — and a big banner on their website that read “We heard you, no tax increase.”
“When we were able to describe that and communicate that out to the community," he said, "I think proverbial shoulders may have gone down a little bit."
Yorkville says they need to build the new schools because of overcrowding. It’s one of the few districts in the region steadily growing.
“Music classes, orchestra classes are taught in hallways," said Zediker. "We don't have a lot of space for small group intervention. So, if we have any tutoring group or an intervention, sometimes you'll see that at the top of stairs.”
Now, after multiple years' worth of work and two tight votes, the real work begins. They expect to break ground this coming spring.
