You are right about the divisions. It is going to take years to get over this. The entire SB will have to be replaced including the Super with people that are more interested in the kids then with lining their own pockets. A good SB member will represent all of the areas and not just their own.
I would like to throw a thought out just for thought. My believe is that the divisions and bitterness over what has happen will continue for a long time. It might not be a bad idea for the SD to split; the current North and the current South having their own districts if the new HS falls through or if NSFOC wins their lawsuit. That might be the only way to really start healing if the new HS doesn't go through. Just an interesting thought.
I am all for splitting the district. Problem is - who gets stuck with MV? Only 4 elementaries want it. Not enough for their own district, but maybe? Anybody have the numbers - can we fit everyone except Brookdale, Brooks, Young, and Longwood into WV and NV?
Here is a quote from Howie Crouse: 3/19/2006
A. Officials predict in the next 10 years the district will need space for 8,000 middle school students and 10,400 high school students.
They say the existing buildings have capacity for 6,750 middle school students and 8,400 high school students.by the sb's own numbers:
2009:
MS 6935 185 over Howie's capacity numbers
HS 8488 88 over Howie's capacity numbers
2013: ( end of bubble )
MS 6987 237 over Howie's capacity numbers
HS 8931 531 over Howie's capacity numbers
So yeah, this shows easily could fit the rest into WV and NV.
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entire artilce from Herald below>
/ Herald 3/19/06Referendum basics for Dist. 204
Dist. 204’s referendum puts future in voters’ hands
By Sara Hooker
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Sunday, March 19, 2006
Indian Prairie voters on Tuesday will hold a large part of the school district’s future in their hands.
They again must consider whether to open their wallets to the tune of $124.7 million to pay for construction of a third high school in Indian Prairie Unit District 204.
Another high school is necessary, supporters say, to manage existing and anticipated overcrowding in the district’s secondary schools.
Opponents say the proposal is too expensive and growing enrollment can be better managed by building additions, installing portable classrooms and converting an unopened elementary school into a middle school.
Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know before you vote.
Q. What is the district proposing?
A. The district is asking for the power to borrow $124.7 million to build a third high school that supporters say is needed to manage overcrowding in the fast-growing district.
That amount would pay for a 3,000-student capacity building, site work, land and furnishings
to be constructed on 80 acres of the Brach-Brodie property near Route 59 and 75th Street at Commons Drive in Aurora. It also would convert the Waubonsie Valley High School freshman campus into a seventh middle school.
Q. Why do officials think the district needs a third high school?
A. Officials predict in the next 10 years the district
will need space for 8,000 middle school students and 10,400 high school students. They say the existing buildings have capacity for 6,750 middle school students and 8,400 high school students.
Opponents of the plan say they believe the district’s projections are inflated and based on faulty data and a third high school isn’t needed. Q. Why does this sound familiar?
A. The district floated a similar referendum proposal last spring that voters overwhelmingly rejected.
This proposal will cost quite a bit more.
Last year, officials estimated they needed $105 million to acquire the necessary land and build a 450,000-square-foot school. This year they say the same land and building will cost roughly $124.7 million.
Q. Why do supporters think the result will be different this time?
A. Referendum organizers say portions of the electorate were apathetic last time around and didn’t fully appreciate how important the vote was. They’re hoping to get more of those people to the polls this time in the district’s portions of Naperville, Aurora, Plainfield and Bolingbrook.
Opponents say they’re expecting a tougher fight this time around, but remain convinced the district hasn’t made its case for a third high school to go along with Waubonsie Valley in Aurora and Neuqua Valley in Naperville.
Q. Can you explain the financing plan?
A. Officials plan to reduce the initial effect on taxpayers by refinancing the district’s debt to increase the payback time. It’s a strategy that reduces the district’s bond and interest portion of your property tax bill in the short term, but increases the overall payback amount.
This year, for example, the owner of a $300,000 house paid $738 for the bond and interest portion of District 204’s property tax bill that goes toward things such as school construction.
Under the district’s plan, that same homeowner would pay about $600 toward the bond and interest portion of the tax bill for the life of the 20-year loan.
Those figures assume the home in question will appreciate at a rate of 5 percent for each of the next two years, 4.5 percent in 2008, 4 percent in 2009 and 3 percent each year thereafter.
But here’s where it gets complicated, because by approving Tuesday’s referendum request, residents would ensure that construction bonds that would have been paid off in 2017 instead would remain on the tax bill until 2026.
So what does that mean to the owner of a house valued at $300,000 today?
It means they would pay almost $6,000 more for just the bond and interest portion of their school tax bill over the entire life of the loan than they would if the referendum request is defeated.
Q. How much more will it cost to staff a new high school?
A. Officials believe it will cost about $4.5 million a year to operate a third high school.
The money would be needed to pay for administrative, clerical and other support salaries, extracurricular programs, utilities and custodial and maintenance support.
That figure doesn’t include the teachers, textbooks, supplies and transportation services officials say they’d need to provide regardless of where students attend school.
“We know those kids are coming. We’re going to have to educate them no matter what,” finance director Dave Holm said. “(The $4.5 million), that’s a cost we don’t have today that we will have in 2009.”
Opponents of the referendum proposal say they think that figure is low and that it might actually come in closer to $6 million a year because of expected increases in teacher salaries and other factors.
Q. Where would that money come from?
A. District 204 officials have long made it clear they plan to ask voters for another tax increase in 2009 for the education fund, which is used largely to pay for operations and teachers. They say the increase will be needed because expenses continue to rise faster than the consumer price index, which is the limiting factor in the state-mandated property tax cap.
Exactly how much more money the district will need depends on several factors, including the results of this year’s teacher contract negotiations.
Q. Why did the district choose the site near Route 59 and 75th Street for the proposed high school.
A. Officials say they need at least 80 acres for the high school campus and there are a limited number of sites of that size in the district. They say they examined all of the realistic possibilities and chose this location.
Some opponents question the location, however, and say the district might have been able to find less expensive property elsewhere in or near the district.
Q. What happens if voters approve the proposal?
A. Construction would begin as soon as the district acquires all 80 acres it needs at the Brach-Brodie site. It currently owns 25 acres there and is pursuing condemnation to acquire the rest. The district would plan to open the new school in 2009. Q. What happens if voters reject the proposal?
A. It depends who you ask.
Referendum opponents say the district simply would be forced to examine other, less-costly alternatives, including building an addition to Neuqua or installing portable classrooms at some locations. Funding for any of those options likely would require approval of a separate referendum question.
Referendum supporters, on the other hand, say rejection of this tax request will threaten the quality of education for area students and threaten to damage property values. They say it will force even more students into Neuqua and Waubonsie, resulting in severely overcrowded mega high schools that would be unable to serve the needs of students. They say the district might be forced to look at a number of unpleasant options, including implementing split shifts by as early as 2009.
District officials, meanwhile, say a referendum defeat will force them to redraw high school boundaries in time for the 2007 school year to more fairly distribute enrollment. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
dailyherald.com
