Voters Reject $130M Bond Referendum to Build 2 New Schools: District 15 Election Results

PALATINE, IL — Voters in Community Consolidated School District 15 overwhelmingly rejected that school system's $130 million referendum to build two new schools and close another.

Early returns showed significant opposition for the bond issue Tuesday. And that set the tone for the rest of the evening as the measure struggled to find support from district residents.

With all 76 precincts reporting, voters shot down the bond issue with 70.64 percent (33,055) of the unofficial vote, while 29.36 percent (13,741) supported for its passage.

"Our strong belief from the beginning was that the referendum was inherently flawed; a question of this magnitude needed to be vetted by a larger group, more representative of our community," Melanie Santostefano, one of the founders of the oppostion group For Our D15 Kids, said in a statement. "The need for community-wide engagement was absolutely necessary prior to the referendum being on the ballot, because proposed changes would affect all of our residents one way or another."

The defeat of the referendum means the school district will have to find a new way to deal with overcrowding in the system. But school board members will need to overcome a perceived lack of transparency and involve district voters more if they want to introduce another referendum in the future.

UPDATED (1:08 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 9)

ORIGINAL STORY

PALATINE, IL — Closing a school is never an easy decision for a district, even if it comes with the promise of new facilities and other improvements. Boundaries are reconfigured, students' routines are disrupted, and ultimately animostiy is generated by parents who are simply looking to protect and ensure their children's best interests.

The complications are compounded, however, when a vocal group of constituents believe district officials were less than transparent about the referendum and rushed through a very flawed plan.

This has been the case for Community Consolidated School District 15 leading up the Nov. 8 election. In August, the board voted to put a $130 million bond referendum on the ballot to deal with overcrowding by building two new district schools — a kindergarten through fifth-grade school on a site at Osage Park in northeast Palatine and a middle school on district property along Ela Road in Inverness in the district's southwest area.

The following is how the referendum appears on the ballot:

"Shall the Board of Education of Palatine Community Consolidated School District Number 15, Cook County, Illinois, build and equip two school buildings, acquire a site for one of said school buildings, improve the sites of both of said school buildings and issue bonds of said School District to the amount of $130,000,000 for the purpose of paying the costs thereof?"

The new facilities would lead to the closing of the district's oldest school, Gray M. Sanborn School, and Jane Addams Elementary School would be converted into a STEM middle school. The referendum also would bring full-day kindergarten to the district, and proposed new boundaries would place the overwhelming majority of the district's Hispanic students in the new Osage Park school.

If approved by voters, homeowners in the district naturally will pay more in property tax. Using the district's tax estimator, a Palatine homeowner who paid $5,000 in property taxes in 2016 would need to pony up an additional $98 in 2017.

Opposition sprung up almost immediately after board member unanimously approved to put the referendum before voters. In an unscientific Patch poll in August, 68 percent of the 884 people who participated said they would vote against the referendum.

Ironically, many district parents challenging the referendum aren't necessarily opposed to the reasoning behind it. The contention of people like Barb Kain is that school board didn't engage the community beforehand and now has straddled the district with an ill-conceived plan with too many loose ends.

"Our platform isn't just, 'Vote no, it's too high a price tag.' Our platform is, 'Vote no not this plan'." said Barb Kain, one of the organizers behind For Our D15 Kids, a group spreading awareness and drumming up support to vote down the referendum. "[T]here are so many pieces of the plan we're in favor of, full-day kindergarten, reduced busing, and even looking at boundary lines. They haven't been redrawn in over 20 years.

"But we just don't think that this plan has been well thought-out [and] involved anywhere near enough community engagement. We think the school they're going to build in the northeast corner is going to be very divisive for the community. We're trying to get all those points across to everybody. … We want to say there are better ways to do it, to come up with a better plan and more research to find a lower price tag."

Kain has two children — a second-grader and a third-grader — who attend Sanborn, and she would hate to see her neighborhood school eliminated and downtown Palatine lose its only school within walking distance.

"For me this is about fighting for my neighborhood and my community, to still have a community school," she said. "A longer-term effect for me is that it's possible my home value would decline because there's no neighborhood walking school where I live anymore."

That isn't the singluar reason she's been part of a grass-roots campaign against the referendum, however. She's also concerned the boundaries for the new school on the Osage Park site would segregate Hispanic students to the northeast corner of Palatine, and the district hasn't done enough research to know how that will effect those kids.

But supporters of the referendum, such as the group CCSD 15 Kids, point to the fact that northeast site would be a community school that would offer additional programs that would address the needs and challenges of low-income students in that area. Some of those initiatives would include tutoring and mentor programs, English as a Second Language services and technology training.

More on the D15 Referendum

The District

• School Building Bond Referendum
• Referendum FAQ
• Tax Impact Estimator

Supporting It

• CCSD15 KIDS | Website | Facebook

Opposing It

• For Our D15 Kids
• Consolidate Our Community

Ultimately, it has been the school board's handling of the referendum that makes Kain and others question the right-mindedness of it. Although the district lists on its website a timeline of nearly two years that aspects of the referendum have been considered, Kain says the bond measure was sprung on parents and other community stakeholders at the August board meeting.

"Any community engagement that has happened has been reactive, not proactive," she said.

At the meeting, the public was only given time to comment after the vote had already been taken. District forums were held after the referendum was already on the ballot. Even the proposed change in boundaries kept changing after the fact, Kain said, and the district admits in its referendum FAQ that the boundary maps aren't in their final forms.

"There's just so much that hasn't been thought out and that they don't have an answer for," she said, adding that officials have told the public they have three years — the time the dtistrict estimates it will take to build the new schools — to figure out those answers.

Former school board member Scott Herr told Journal & Topic Newspapers that the district should have pushed the referendum to a later election, either April of 2017 or March of 2018. That would have given the public enough time to offer opinions.

But officials such as Board President Peggy Babcock and Superintendent Scott Thompson said the April ballot was avoided so voters wouldn't have to consider the referendum on top of filling open board seats. Thompson also told the Chicago Tribune that any delays would only drive up building costs because of inflation.

These missteps come on the heels of another board financial decision that was highly criticized for its lack of transparency. In April, the board approved an unprecedented 10-year teachers contract, but officials waited more than a month to release details about the deal.

"I can't tell you how many people we've talked to that are just so angry and mistrustful of this school board," Kain said.

Obviously, the end game for Kain and other opposition groups is seeing the referendum defeated at the polls. But even if the referendum passes, Kain still wants to help the district with the new changes the measure will bring about.

"I will stay vocal and do everything I can to stay part of the planning for whatever happens over the next three years ... ," she said. "I have tried to remain nothing but respectful at the speaking opportunities I've had. … I hope [officials] see me as someone who's not an adversary and someone who is doing right by the community.

"But I don't know. Maybe they'll be really tired of my face by the time this is done."

photo via Community Consolidated School District 15

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