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Board of Education to consider referendum at August 20 meeting
The Community Consolidated School District 89 Board of Education is expected to vote Monday on whether to place a tax-rate referendum on the November ballot. The issue will be considered during the regular Board of Education meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, August 20, at Glen Crest Middle School, 725 Sheehan Avenue, Glen Ellyn.
At the previous Board of Education meeting on July 16, Board members expressed a consensus that, after evaluating community feedback, residents are not looking for additional cuts that could impact the quality of education offered in CCSD 89 schools.
CCSD 89 enrollment has increased by 16.9 percent since 2012 and it is projected to grow an additional 10 percent in the next three years. Due to this enrollment increase and rising costs, CCSD 89 is facing deficit budgets for at least the next five fiscal years.
The Board is expected to vote Monday on whether to place a 40-cent tax-rate increase on the ballot for the November 6, 2018, elections. This rate increase would cost residents an additional $133 in taxes for each $100,000 of their home’s market value. For a resident with a $300,000 home, the additional cost would be about $33 per month.
The Board’s vote will come after months of gathering feedback from residents through the “Our 89” community engagement work. You can learn more about the community-engagement work at www.ccsd89.org/our89
Community engagement work
In January 2018, CCSD 89 Superintendent Dr. Emily K. Tammaru convened a Superintendent’s Finance Committee. The committee looked at the nearly $3 million in cuts the district has made since 2009, and examined how rising enrollment and increasing costs have affected the district’s budget.
After three months of reviewing financial data, the members of the Finance Committee – made up of parents, residents and staff – recommended two options to the Board of Education:
- Option A: Increase revenues in order to maintain comprehensive, high-quality educational programming. CCSD 89 has not had an educational-rate increase since 1986. Increasing revenues would allow the district to avoid cuts to programs that directly impact students.
- Option B: Reduce programs and increase fees. The district would need to make about $1.2 million in cuts during the 2019-20 school year. These cuts could include reductions of: gifted services, band and orchestra, social work services, library staff, and full-day kindergarten. The cuts could also result in larger class sizes. The cuts could be more significant in subsequent years.
The Board then asked the Our 89 committee members to collect more information from residents. This summer, the district hosted three community meetings to share financial data and gather feedback. Community members who attended those meetings expressed a broad support for the district’s current programming.
According to the 2017 MAP scores, CCSD 89 students are in the top 10 percent nationally for academic achievement. Students finished in the 92nd percentile in reading tests and the 86th percentile for math tests.
The Board of Education is committed to maintaining a high-quality education while also eliminating the district’s structural deficit. Similarly, the community expressed a desire to maintain the current educational programming. At the community meetings, 84.7 percent of the people in attendance said they supported increasing the tax rate rather than cutting programs to balance the budget.
When the district conducted phone surveys this summer of all residents (parents and non parents), 56.9 percent of residents said they would support a 40-cent referendum.
Phone and online surveys also showed that residents:
- Agree the district made significant budget cuts ($3 million in cuts and reductions since 2009)
- Believe CCSD 89 is one of the reasons that people move to this area
- Say they would be willing to pay more to maintain an excellent school district