District 200 survey asks voters about concerns with failed referendum
As Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 officials regroup after voters last month rejected a funding request for the second time in four years, a community survey will gather feedback on what went wrong with the ill-fated $154.5 million building plan.
The survey responses could help the school board create a new plan and re-evaluate priorities for construction projects.
As part of the post-mortem, the district has asked its demographer to update enrollment projections. Internally, the district also will take another look at building capacity in its schools.
Questions about funding building repairs remain unresolved. On Wednesday, the full board will consider a recommendation from its finance committee to increase student fees next school year, in part so the district can set aside more revenue for capital projects.
In early June, the board will receive the results of a study from Naperville-based Pruehs & Associates into whether private donors would be willing to bankroll some projects.
More than 54 percent of voters in April opposed the measure seeking to borrow $132.5 million as part of the $154.5 million plan for building projects at all but one of the district's schools. The district also sought a property tax increase to pay off the 19-year loan.
Critics suggested the district had underfunded maintenance and questioned whether some building spaces were underused. Opponents also argued the plan was too costly.
The property tax bill for the owner of a $322,300 home would have increased by $180 to $295 annually for debt service for the first nine years of the loan. After existing debt came off the district's books, that same owner then would have paid $531 annually in additional taxes toward the retirement of the new loan in tax year 2036.
The district will earmark about $2.5 million out of the operating budget toward capital projects in the 2018 fiscal year. That funding is based on the Sherman Dergis formula - a methodology adopted by the school board and used by taxing bodies nationwide.
Without the loan, the formula suggested the district may need to use $6.5 million in annual operating funds for those projects as early as the 2019 fiscal year.
The anonymous survey, meanwhile, was developed by administrators. It's available online until May 19. Survey questions seek input on specific projects and what led to the plan's defeat.
"I want to make sure whatever we do moving forward that the plan reflects the will and support of the community," Superintendent Jeff Schuler said.
The scope of the plan was substantially larger than a failed 2013 referendum question that called for just one project: a new Jefferson Early Childhood Center.
Regardless of the outcome of the most recent ballot question, the district's demographer, John Kasarda, was slated this fall to update his last major enrollment study from four years ago. But district officials moved up that timeline to coincide with the post-referendum planning, Schuler said.
The district reviews enrollment annually against Kasarda's projections. His 2013 analysis showed enrollment declined by 222 students over the five prior years.