High stakes petition may call St. Charles school board's 'bluff'

St. Charles parents will push forward with a petition that may result in a new middle school or no middle-school improvements at all.

The move comes after the school board spurned parents' wishes to give voters the option of building a new school rather than expand Thompson Middle School and close Haines Middle School.

"If they don't help us, we're doing the petition," Haines parent Kristy Perry said. "I'm calling their bluff. Listen, I don't want my taxes to go any higher either. But I can live with $100 to $200 more in taxes knowing it will be offset by a $600 decrease (for a $300,000 home) with them retiring old debt (in 2018). All it would take to pass a new school referendum is educating the public on that point. We'll do all the work. We will get the community involved. Just give us the option to do that."

Board members said Thursday that a referendum would be a wasted effort. They all favored a three-year, $50 million to $55 million plan that uses a grant, savings, new efficiencies and up to $20 million in borrowing to revamp Thompson and Wredling middle schools. No board member expressed any optimism about St. Charles residents approving a tax increase. Community Unit School District 303 board President Kathy Hewell didn't feel different Friday.

"They have to convince a lot of people that a new school is the best way to go," Hewell said. "I'm not convinced that these Haines families we're hearing from are as interested in a new middle school as they are in their kids' education not getting disrupted by construction. I don't think that concern is going to ring true for most voters."

That sets up a difficult decision for the school board if supporters of a new middle school force an April referendum. There are three scenarios.

The school board may decide to drop all improvement plans and leave all three middle schools untouched because they think no referendum will pass. Second, the school board can ask voters for permission to proceed with the current plan with the risk of the community rejecting it. Third, the school board could put a referendum on the ballot to build an all-new middle school. That scenario also bears the risk of ballot rejection. The all-new school option would raise the cost of the work to about $80 million, according to Superintendent Don Schlomann.

All that means, once the middle school question goes to the voters, there is no option to move forward if a referendum fails, he said.

"We looked at a $30 million option, a $40 million option and a $50 million option," Schlomann said. "Anything less than $50 million didn't address the academic needs of kids and still keep the schools at 1,400 students."

District officials think it would take between 7,500 and 8,000 "yes" votes to pass a referendum because they say 60 percent of the community does not have children in the schools. District officials also think half the district that would not attend an all-new Thompson/Haines Middle School has little incentive to vote for a tax increase.

Hewell said the one outcome of a petition that could sway her pessimism about a referendum would be if the new school supporters get petitions signatures equal to the amount of "yes" votes it would take for a referendum to pass.

"If that happens, then I'd say I guess all seven of us on the school board were kind of wrong in our thoughts about a referendum," Hewell said.