How all-day kindergarten would affect tax-hike referendum in Dist. 205

A proposal to implement all-day kindergarten could be a deciding factor in whether Elmhurst Unit District 205 seeks a property tax increase to pay for tens of millions of dollars in building improvements.

School board members are expected to determine next month whether to put a referendum question on the November ballot.

The ballot measure would request money to address safety and security needs districtwide and pay for building enhancements. The building projects would allow the district to offer all-day kindergarten at each of its elementary schools.

But Superintendent David Moyer says "a November ballot initiative becomes impossible" if the school board decides it wants to open a single all-day kindergarten center.

"The feasibility of being able to kind of redesign the entire concept at this point pretty much takes November off the table," Moyer told school board members on Tuesday night.

He said moving the ballot question to April, when there's a school board election, "is typically not recommended."

"It creates a lot of problems," Moyer said. "The referendum becomes the board issue in the election cycle and it tends to convolute a lot of various different things."

There's also the rising cost of construction. Delaying the ballot question could require the district to cut back aspects of the proposed building improvements or seek more money from taxpayers, Moyer said.

Currently, the most expensive scenario would cost $168.5 million and pay for comprehensive upgrades to Lincoln, Field and Edison elementary schools.

It also would provide $18.3 million for maintenance and $44.8 million for building-specific upgrades at 10 other schools. In addition, those schools would get $24.2 million in "future-ready" upgrades, including media centers and STEM spaces. Topping the list of specific construction projects would be replacing Lincoln and Field schools.

If voters approved a ballot question in November, the costliest scenario would mean an additional $149 a year in property taxes for the owner of a $500,000 home.

Before deciding whether to seek a property tax increase, some board members want to know how the district would pay the annual operating costs associated with all-day kindergarten.

The break-even cost of all-day kindergarten would be roughly $1 million, according to preliminary estimates. It's yet to be determined if the district would pay the cost, have parents pay it or have parents share the cost with the district.

If the district went with a tuition-based model, it's estimated that parents would have to pay $2,200 to $2,500 per student to cover the full cost of the program.

But board member Chris Blum said another possible scenario would make the program free for everybody. So he wants to know how the district plans to find $1 million to pay for that.

"I personally don't want to put a referendum on the ballot, which is very largely centered around all-day kindergarten, if we don't have an operating model that goes with it," Blum said. "Because if we find that we can't afford it after we build all this stuff, I don't want to go there."