Board of Education tables action on new Jefferson Early Childhood Center and schedules an August 20 Special Meeting to consider a November referendum
On August 15, the Board of Education was expected to take action on two items related to the new Jefferson Early Childhood Center project. Following a closed session discussion, Board President Jim Vroman read the following statement:
“Following the April 2017 Referendum, the Board of Education sought community feedback in order to move forward with critical facility projects.
Given the outcome of the April 2017 ballot question, and subsequent feedback, the Board of Education understood that the financial impact of the overall referendum question was the primary concern to the community. In our survey, we asked the community to rate each project in the referendum. For Jefferson, 68% of survey respondents either supported the project as it was or with modifications to reduce costs. Based on this feedback, we revised the scope of the building to reduce square footage, therefore reducing costs.
In April 2017, the community did not approve raising taxes to address facility projects across the District. That does not mean those facility needs go away — they still need to be addressed. A ballot question does not ask the community whether the Board of Education should or should not complete critical facility projects. Rather, a ballot question asks the community if they wish to issue bonds to raise taxes, for the purpose of providing additional revenue in order to complete proposed facility projects.
We, the Board of Education, explored the route of a lease agreement to address a significant facility need at Jefferson, while avoiding adding additional tax dollars to the levy.
Through various budget reductions and deferred investment in other areas in the 2018–19 Budget, the Board completed construction projects at 14 schools this summer, including eight secure entry projects, paving projects, flooring projects and a lease payment allocation toward the new Jefferson. All of those projects were included in the April 2017 referendum. Again, even though the community did not approve the April 2017 ballot question, we have determined that those needs do not go away and we MUST address them. Secure entries at eight of our schools were included in the April 2017 referendum. Should we not have completed those projects this summer because the community did not approve the referendum? We think not.
Late last week, we received a copy of a lawsuit filed against the District by one of our community members. The lawsuit alleges that the District 200 did not comply with the Illinois School Code through the steps it has taken in approving the lease agreement that provided for the new building. According to Illinois School Code, we have the ability to enter into such a lease agreement and the language in the lease agreement was very explicit that it could only be paid out of operating funds, not through levying a separate special property tax to finance the costs.
The District adamantly disagrees with the claims outlined in the lawsuit. Supported by our legal counsel, we believe the District has been fully compliant with school code in all of our decisions. The claims that the District has not been transparent in decisions are simply not true — we have sent more than 20 communications to the broader community outlining our process to determine a facility solution for Jefferson.
With that said, the time and cost of resources to litigate this claim would be very costly to our community and taxpayers. We are NOT willing to take any more valuable resources from the three, four and five year olds in our District that need us and deserve a facility improvement that meets their educational needs.
To that end, I recommend that we do not take action on the two agenda items related to our Early Learning Center. Instead, the Board of Education will hold a Special Meeting on Monday, August 20 at 7:00 p.m. to consider a resolution authorizing a question on the November 6, 2018 ballot to build and equip the new building without levying a separate special property tax to finance the costs. This decision is especially painful given that the bids we were to award tonight were approximately $500,000 under budget and a delay of any sort will almost certainly increase the cost of the project. While we believe that we have been fully compliant with Illinois School Code in developing a plan to construct a new building through a lease agreement, it is not the desire of this Board of Education to spend the communities’ tax dollars fighting a lawsuit when the option of a November referendum question exists.”
