District 65 Referendum Campaign Thanks Supporters

EVANSTON, IL — Roughly four out of every five voters in Evanston/Skokie District 65 approved of the $14.5 million referendum to fund the district's schools with an increase in property tax. Backers of the referendum said it was worth paying roughly $40 a month in additional tax for the average homeowner to maintain the quality of the district's schools.

The group Save Evanston Schools, which supported and organized for the referendum question, released the following statement Wednesday evening:

We want to thank our diverse group of parents and grandparents, community, faith-based, business and educational leaders and the many other everyday Evanstonians who supported our grassroots effort to save and strengthen our schools by supporting the District 65 referendum.

Passing a referendum is incredibly difficult and time consuming work. It takes plenty of inspiration and perspiration. Since 70% of referendums fail, we never took one vote for granted.

We had hundreds of volunteers who knocked on more than 20,000 doors, put up 2,000 yard signs, made and sent thousands of phone calls and emails, and hosted dozens of events to reach as many of our friends, family, and neighbors as we possibly could.

We voted yes to keep our schools the strong, incredibly special institutions they are by balancing the District's budget for the next eight years, bringing more innovation and technology to the classrooms, strengthening our core curriculum, continuing investments in enhancing equity, and reducing the achievement gap and investing in long overdue school capital projects.

We want to thank Dr. Goren, all the District's staff, and the Board for all of its hard work over the past several months during this very difficult process. You were incredibly open and transparent about why it was absolutely vital to place the referendum on the ballot.

Whether you have kids in public elementary and middle schools right now or not, our supporters understood we cannot be the generation who lets our public schools fall apart.

This represents an investment in our kids, our community, and our homes. But we were also aware that any property tax increase will be a burden for many of our residents. We are committed to working together to find solutions with our elected officials to make sure Evanston continues working for all of us.

Like so many of you, we are incredibly proud to call Evanston home. Proud to be part of such a diverse, engaged, and compassionate community. We know our schools are at the very core of everything we treasure and we know that passing this referendum was critical to protecting our Evanston.

This was a once-in-a-generation ask and a once in a generation, overwhelming response. All we can say, from the very bottom of our hearts, is thank you for believing in all that Evanston is and will be in the future.

» via Save Our Evanston Schools

Related:

• District 65 Unveils Potential Cuts If Referendum Fails
• District 65 Seeks Operating Referendum — (Resources)
• $14.5 Million Referendum To Fund Evanston/Skokie District 65 Information Sessions
• Referendum Possible for District 65 Voters in 2017

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