Facing stagnant local tax revenues and expecting no help from the state, Glenbard High School District 87 this fall will ask voters to approve a substantial tax increase.
The school board this week voted to seek an education fund tax rate increase of 66 cents per $100 in assessed valuation, board President Barbara G. Smith said.
Like many public school districts, Glenbard is facing cuts in general state school aid imposed by Gov. James R. Thompson after the Illinois General Assembly rejected his plea for a tax increase. Glenbard will lose $672,000 of the $5.6 million in general state aid it received last year, and also will lose some grants targeted for special education and other state-mandated programs.
Glenbard also has been hurt financially by a leveling of equalized assessed valuation as commercial and residential development has slowed in the district, which spans Glen Ellyn, Lombard, Carol Stream and portions of other communities and unincorporated areas.
”We would have needed the referendum regardless of the governor`s cuts,” Smith said. ”We had to ask for more because we lost about $700,000 in state money that we needed.”
Glenbard, the largest high school district in Du Page County, has been spending more than it receives for the last three years and officials project a $1.5 million deficit by the end of the 1987-88 school year. The district has 7,300 students in its four schools.
The district`s education fund tax rate, $1.39 per $100 in assessed valuation, hasn`t been increased since 1968. Glenbard`s last attempt to raise the rate was defeated 15 years ago.
In the last five years District 87 has cut about $600,000 in expenditures, officials have said. If voters reject the tax increase this fall, Glenbard would consider increasing class sizes and cutting some remedial and honors programs and some extracurricular activities to save money, Smith said.
