'We're Just Not There Yet' on 112 Referendum: Letter

The following letter was written and submitted by Davis Schneiderman.

“We’re just not there yet.”

When I heard NSSD112 Superintendent Michael Bregy speak these words recently to a packed house at Ravinia Nursery School—referencing that there was no current plan as to where to relocate the wonderful blue school (where my youngest daughter attended) if the referendum passes—I was struck by how his words resonated for me with much broader meaning.

We’re days away from a vote on a $198 million referendum to build a single middle school with capacity for more than 1900+ students. We’re days away from a vote that would close 6 of our 12 schools, more than what would close without a referendum. We’re days away from a vote on the largest tax increase ever in the history of our town, and the largest per-capita referendum in Illinois history.

And we’re just not there yet.

Instead, we’re struggling. We’re struggling with the fact that District CFO Mohsin Dada detailed a material error in the financial projection on February 9th—five weeks before the election.

We now know that what D112 has stated on so many occasions is not the case.

Here’s an email from Dr. Bregy sent on September 16, 2015: "The operating savings achieved under [is]...sufficient to make us financially sustainable for decades to come."

This error reinforces that fact that, under this plan, we do not realize any savings until 2021, and we begin deficit spending just five years later, in 2026. A few years beyond this, and we’re back where we started.

We’re struggling because this plan that has been sold to us as a “fix” for our problems is really an enormously expensive band-aid that will “kick the can down the road” once more.

It’s hard to reconcile the fact that we must change, and we must, with the actual plan we have to vote upon. We know the community clearly called for a two-middle school model with no grade centers, and we’re struggling with the fact that this plan rejects those strong recommendations.

We’re struggling with the fact that some of this plan’s supporters say that “this is the only solution possible” and that “there is no other way” and “if you vote no, you’ll never have sprinklers” and “we just have do something now because we can’t wait a moment longer.”

We’re struggling, not only because of the questionable educational value of this 1900+ student school, but also because we know our financial facts tell a different story. We know that any talk of school closures in the event of a failed referendum is wildly premature, and not justified by our current financial situation.

We’ve heard Board member Karla Livney speak out against the premature closure of one school, Ravinia, as part of the Budget Deficit Reduction plan, but we can also choose to hear her words in a broader context:

"I urge the board to slow down, take a deep breathe and regroup. Let’s agree...to dig deep to see to what else we can do to save the District money....The public will not fault us for failing to be hasty...I’d argue that the community members who want to know exactly what will happen in the face of a failed referendum are far outweighed by the community members who want us to move more cautiously.”

Finally, we know that our elected Board members and D112 Administration have the best of intentions in working for our children. They’ve put the question before us. They’ve told us their vision for the future, and the community has to decide if we share this vision.

If the voters reject this referendum, they are also rejecting the Board’s vision. On March 16th, we need to come together as a community to find a way forward. If this fails, we must be ready to work with D112 and referendum supporters to develop a plan the community will pass.

We’re not there yet, but I’m optimistic about the future.

Davis Schneiderman is a professor, author and higher education administrator.