The board of Joliet Grade School District 86 is considering a 10-year, $73.9 million plan to improve the district’s aging schools.
Supt. Phyllis Wilson, who led a committee of school and community members in studying school improvement needs and funding options, presented the plan Wednesday night. The cost estimates could increase as much as 20 percent because they are based on 1998 dollars, she said.
“We tried to produce a comprehensive plan,” said Wilson, who cited the need to renovate, replace and expand the schools. “We wanted to address our increasing enrollments and the need to provide education in the 21st Century.”
The school board will consider adopting the plan at its meeting Wednesday night at Taft School, said board President Jeff Allen.
“When the plan is adopted in its final form, it will tell everybody in the district where we’re going with the needs of our schools,” Allen said.
Wilson released a three-phase action plan a week after the school board decided against scheduling a referendum in April. The board considered a referendum as a way to raise the $6.2 million needed as a local match to meet a July 1 deadline for getting a $16.2 million state school construction grant.
District officials say they plan to seek a new school construction grant for 2002. Board members last week also indicated that they plan on scheduling a referendum for the March 2002 election.
The school board wants to build two elementary schools, to accommodate 600 to 900 pupils, on Joliet’s east side and then possibly close a few older, outdated schools. The district’s 20 schools, including many that are 50 to 100 years old, serve about 9,300 pupils.
Wilson said the board has four options for dealing with facility issues in the next decade, or it could decide against launching a school improvement program.
The first option is to sell working cash bonds for $4.25 million and then ask the City of Joliet to give it three or four years of its annual riverboat gaming revenue sharing grant, at about $500,000 a year, in advance, she said.
Second, the board could schedule a referendum to seek a $9 million tax hike, to be in effect for 20 years, to pay for new schools and some improvements. If that increase passed, a resident with a home assessed at $100,000 would pay $21.45 more in taxes to the district.
The board also could schedule a referendum to seek $22 million over 20 years for the new schools, improvements, renovations and additions. If that increase passed, a resident with a $100,000 home would pay $33 more a year in taxes.
The last funding option is to schedule a referendum to seek $28 million, which could pay for two schools and almost every improvement project in the plan. That increase would result in a resident with a home worth $100,000 paying $50 more in taxes to the district each year for 20 years.
Addressing deficiencies, such as meeting the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act, in 20 schools and six other buildings, some of which are leased to community groups, would cost $29.7 million, Wilson reported.
On top of that, additions would cost $33.2 million, she said.
