UPDATE 11 a.m. Jan. 26: Elmhurst Unit District 205 received another quarterly payment from the state of Illinois on Wednesday, Jan. 25, in the amount of $1.1 million. The state now owes the district $1.3 million, rather than the $2.4 million mentioned in this article.
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JAN. 25: It's a question that makes taxpayers nervous and has School Board members analyzing a perplexing problem: What to do about Lincoln School.
Lincoln has all the "charm and trappings" that come with it being a 95-year-old building, Elmhurst District 205 School Board member Jim Collins said Tuesday. It meets none of the requirements for accessibility, its exterior is deteriorating, allowing outside elements in, and additions over the years have created a patchwork construction that is confusing, to say the least.
, when the board heard a report about the school's "failed" condition from consultants hired by the district to look at all the school buildings. That discussion continues today and will continue for some time before any decisions are made.
Officials can repair the immediate problems, but do they put a few million dollars into the school to keep it going, or is it time to build new?
No Surprises
Not long ago, under the old District 205 School Board and administration, facilities planning was looked at as an annual duty—discussed just once a year, at most, Collins said. That probably was not enough time to really plan out how to preserve the district's 1.5 million square feet of building space and 108 acres of land, he said.
Today, the district operates under a committee structure, and the Finance and Operations Committee, of which Collins is a member, is charged with looking at the district's buildings on an ongoing basis.
There will be no surprises when it comes to dealing with Lincoln—and other buildings in the district that need repair, committee members said.
"We don't want to be surprised by bursting pipes and things like that," committee member Chris Blum said. "We don't want to be running around trying to find a few hundred thousand dollars to try to fix things we didn't know about."
The financial aspects will not be a surprise either, Collins said. The district currently has about $2 million in its capital budget.
"It should be a mystery to no one that something's going to have to happen to replenish the capital projects budget," he said.
Members of the committee and other district staff have toured Lincoln many times with an eye toward cost. The district could spend $4 million on Lincoln in the coming years just to keep it dry and safe, or $20 million to build a new school, Collins said.
"What we don't want to do is put $4 million into the building and then tear it down," he said. "We want to put together a deliberate, open, well-thought-out plan."
He said there is no deadline attached to any decisions about Lincoln.
"The more we investigate, the more we discuss this, the better that plan will be," he said.
Public opinion, along with the opinions of teachers and staff members, will be a critical component of the information-gathering process, committee member John McDonough said.
"Capital projects, whether small or large, are a community decision," he said. "What do the taxpayers and residents want to see happen with this significant problem that's out there?"
Other Projects Need Attention
While Lincoln School appears to be the most visible need, it's not the only one. For example, the aquatic center at York High School needs about $2 million in repairs, and Madison Early Education Center needs about $800,000, Collins said. About $3.5 million would take care of the district's "immediate needs," and over the next 10 years, about $10 million in projects have been targeted, he said.
The district also will be required to conduct its mandatory, 10-year life-safety survey in 2013.
"Many additional (needs) will come out of that," Collins said.
The committee will be working on a grid or diagram to help board members understand what the long-range plan should be based on what projects are mandatory and what is negotiable.
"We want to address small problems before they become big problems. We want to maintain buildings before they become run down," Collins said. "There is a perception out there that these things come up and are dealt with as an emergency. We know what our financial situation is. We know how old our properties are. We want to come up with a financially responsible plan."
And Then, There's the State of Illinois
The state of Illinois is $2.4 million behind in its payments to District 205, most of which is from mandated, categorical quarterly payments.
It's not a new problem.
Last year, on Aug. 3, the district finally received a payment that had been due on March 28. Then, on Sept. 16, it received the quarterly payment that had been due on June 16.
"I was feeling pretty good that the state had closed the gap a little," Assistant Superintendent of Finance Chris Whelton told the board. "But we haven't gotten another payment since. We haven't gotten anything due to us related to fiscal year 2012."
Payments were due Sept. 26 and Dec. 27, so the state is still a half-year behind at this point.
"Other than mandated categorical grants, some of our other, smaller grants have also now fallen behind," Whelton said. "The vouchers have been approved by the State Board of Education, but they have not been released to us through the state comptroller's office."
In spite of this, the School District will end the year "on track and on budget," Collins said, but the state's delinquency remains a "glaring item" when discussing finances.
"It continues to baffle me how they can raise income tax 67 percent then not pay the schools what they are owed," he said.
The state is current with general state aid payments, however, which amounts to $366 per student, Whelton said.
The district also got a check for $673.40 from the state for the free and reduced lunch program.
On Tuesday morning, House Speaker at a speaking engagement at Elmhurst College. While he acknowledged there is plenty of blame to go around for Illinois' dire circumstances, at one point he specifically addressed the state's underfunded public pension plans and called on school districts to pay more into teachers pensions.
“Why don’t you contribute? These are your employees,” he said.
It is time for the board to look to the state for any additional needs. We have been generous with our tax dollars to the school district through past referenduems. It is now time for the district to show appreciation for that generosity by acknowledging the imbalance in how our school is funded and look to correcting this issue instead of perpetuating it by raising our property taxes once again. If District 205 just received the average of what other Illinois districts receive from Illinois that would be an additional 20 million per year which could be used to fund these building projects. We are in an election season and we ought to know where those that represent us in Springfield stand on the school funding issue. Maybe the school district could invite the canidates to a school issue forum so they could inform us on what role they feel that state has in funding education.
The Feds pour millions into Chicago schools that underperform or that have a high rate of students from families on welfare. The graduation rates there are disasterous. It's time to put some money into school districts that are at least showing the money spent is returning results on the investment.
I do agree with Nancy that learning will take place online in the future. Has anybody thought of utilizing schools as community centers during the early evening? Doremus and Paul. I agree that buildings have a finite life cycle and are best replaced at some point. Having said that, Nancy has a valid point. Ken, you can get to any point via incremental changes, which social control experts are masters of. Just keep chipping way.
Do you mean the 26th of January?
If I might be so bold as to compare us to people on the Titanic. There is an iceberg ahead. We are arguing whether we should put on our life preservers first or send up distress flares first. Talking doesn't stop us from hitting the berg. And the longer we talk the more people are going to die. How is that for dramatic?
On a separate level, how do you like Lake Shelbyville ? I am an outdoors person surrounded by people who could care less if they ever ventured into the sunshine. I sometimes think I could be happy living in a tent. No gutters to clean, no property tax increase, and if I don't like my neighbor, I can move in a moments notice
Say a 50 50 partnership where half the budget comes from the state and half from local sources or for that matter say Elmhurst receive the average amount that the average school district in Illinois receives. Even with the average district in Illinois receiving three times or more then our district gets Illinois still is at the VERY bottom of the list for funding schools at the state level. At number 50 do you see Illinois at the forefront as to how other states should fund their school system. I was under the impression that the state actually has a lot of control over the school system right down to what type of cleaning supplies to be used. Just a year ago we were told by Govenor Quinn if they didn't raise our income taxes 19,000 teachers would lose their jobs. If Illinois doesn't have much input already into Illinois schools then why would so many teachers lose thier jobs without a tax increase? I watched the State of the Union Address and learned that the federal government is looking to ban kids under 18 from dropping out of school! Talk about losing local control. When we were growing up this wasn't how schools were funded and we seemed to do just fine.It is time to stop enabling a dysfunctional state government on the backs of the property taxpayers.
I would never sugguest that that the Fed. or State should pay for our schools in total. I believe in local control. That means the town or neighborhood runs the schools and PAYS for them. I don't want anything from the Fed. or State. In 1964 I had my first classroom and was given my books and told to cover certain units. It was up to me to decide how much time I would spend on each unit. There were no mandates that I remember. Maybe there is an older teacher that can correct me. Over the years the powers that be, who weren't in the classroom, decided that some things had to be covered. They dangled money and the BOE's jumped. Do you know that the State of Illinois requires that we teach coal as an energy source. Where did the idea for that come from? How many of our representatives are coal miners? The coal industry has lobbyists with money that they spread around. Does the industry that you work in have a lobby? The Holocaust is also to be taught. We talk about Hitler. What about the Turks killing Armenians. How about the Chinese in Tibet. How about the Serbs in Croatia. The list goes on forever. Drivers Education is mandated to be taught. How much does the state pay for that class? Parents used to do it for free. Anybody who says the state should pay more hasn't dealt with the state and what it does to schools. If I remember the quote, Thomas Jefferson said, "That government, that governs least, governs best." More to follow.