Like parents anticipating their children’s report cards, Round Lake school officials anxiously awaited the results of two measures to revitalize their financially strapped district.
Voters in the 5,200-student Round Lake Unit School District 116 in Lake County went to the polls Tuesday to consider a building bond proposal and tax hike to salvage such basics as driver’s education, school lunches and sports.
“We’re very much hoping and praying it will go through,” parent Richard Rainer, whose son Bradley is in the 2nd grade, said Tuesday evening. “It doesn’t seem like anything good will happen if the referendums don’t pass. The programs are going to be cut.”
The Round Lake issues were among more than a dozen Lake County proposals, many of them building projects, that were up for approval.
About half of the referendums were making repeat appearances from November’s election.
In the Round Lake district, officials were seeking a 45-cent increase in the education fund tax rate, to $3.24 per $100 of assessed valuation from $2.79.
The district also was asking to issue $11 million in bonds for school building improvements–to add classrooms in two elementary schools, fix the district’s nearly 30-year-old heating and ventilation systems, repair roofing and infrastructure and make buildings accessible to the disabled.
The owners of a $100,000 home will see their property taxes increase $20.38 per month if both proposals pass, according to the school district.
The referendums are similar to the ones that failed on the November ballot, but these new requests were reduced.
District 116 has struggled for years with rising operating costs, no new revenue sources and limited borrowing ability. Since 1991, it has been on the state’s watch list for financially troubled schools districts.
The district hit a dismal level during the 1994-95 school year, when an eight-week-long strike divided the community and resulted in students having to attend classes through the first week of July.
A sense of urgency has permeated the district since the referendums failed in the last election. At a public hearing about proposed cuts and the ballot questions, a joint committee of teachers, administrators and school board members presented a hit list of recommended cuts to the board. Officials hope to prevent some of the cuts through passage of the referendums.
But regardless of success or failure of the referendums, the district still will be forced to scale back programs, said Laura McGuire, president of the school board.
For instance, the district will restrict use of the buildings for community groups, eliminate elementary intramural programs, reduce computer hardware purchases and lay off staff, including nine bilingual assistants, four librarian assistants, a music teacher and health assistants, according to McGuire.
Rainer, a 46-year-old sheet metal worker, said it will be hard for his family to stay in the district if the referendums don’t pass.
“We don’t have any intention of leaving the area, but we have to educate our children first,” he said.
Many district staff members, parents and students gathered at the administration building to await the results.
Katie Ryan, a freshman at Round Lake High School, said she is upset because the district might have to eliminate sports programs.
“If it doesn’t pass, we have no pride,” Ryan said. “Our sports are going to be gone, our Panther pride is going to go down.”
Barrington Unit School District 220 is voting on a $92 million referendum. This, too, is the second time the district has asked voters for more money to make major improvements to Barrington High School and build two elementary schools. Last fall, a similar referendum for $112 million failed by 600 votes.
In Zion, voters were considering whether to give the city approval to issue $1.37 million in bonds for a Hebron Avenue revival plan. Early results were evenly split. The 2-year sale of bonds would be used to help cover the city’s cost of buying 14 apartment buildings and paying for their demolition.
Once the buildings are razed, the city plans to sell the property to builders as lots for single-family homes.
If the bond sale goes through, owners of a $100,000 home would see about a $50 increase in their 1996 property tax bills and a $59 increase over current levels during the second year.
“None of us wants to increase our taxes, no matter what the need is,” said Zion Mayor Chuck Paxton. But he said he was “hoping that the citizens will support what we think is a real need in the community.”
He said the change will be “dramatic” in that part of the community, which was once riddled with crime.
The Lake Villa Library District is looking for some more elbow room–and seeking to issue $4.75 million in bonds to get it. Demand for library services has increased over the last 15 years, with annual circulation climbing to more than 371,000 in the last fiscal year from 96,000 in 1980. With 3 of 17 precincts counted, 63 percent of the voters were in favor of the referendum.
Consultants hired by the library board estimate the increase in property taxes would cost the owner of a $100,000 home between $15 to $20 annually for the 15-year-term of the bonds.
Another building project is in the works at Oak Grove Elementary District 68. The district is seeking to issue $5.7 million in bonds to build a 48,000-square-foot addition at Oak Grove School. The district says the expansion is necessary to cope with the growth that has almost doubled enrollment in the last decade. Owners of a $300,000 home will see their tax bill rise $140 annually for nine years if the proposal passes.
