Fight over special ed facility not over

At least one local school board member says he'll push to fight the Special Education District of Lake County over approval it received for a $26.5 million building project.

Lake Zurich Unit District 95 board member James Hussey was among the critics of Wednesday's action, saying he and his colleagues had little time to study a plan that has taxpayers in his area on the hook to SEDOL for at least $3.3 million possibly spread over 20 years. He said the first he heard about the project was this month.

Elected boards at Mundelein High School District 120 and Antioch-Lake Villa Area High School District 117 also are on record with complaints about the speed of SEDOL's approval process.

Hussey said he intends to ask fellow District 95 board members at a June 5 meeting to pursue a lawsuit against SEDOL to stop the agency from borrowing the $26.5 million until member districts have more time to discuss the plan. He said he also favors District 95 quitting SEDOL because it "circumvented the normal democratic process."

"I will contend this (SEDOL) organization is so out of control, so ridiculous, we can't be part of it," said Hussey, who doesn't dispute the agency needs to upgrade its facilities.

SEDOL Superintendent William Delp said the 36 Lake County public school districts that are members had ample time to study the construction plans or ask questions. He said no one tried to rush a vote on the proposal, which should have been known to member districts since November.

"Since I've been here, we've done nothing but cut costs at SEDOL," Delp said.

Delp and other SEDOL officials say their continued enrollment growth is forcing some children to be turned down for services because of space problems on the Gages Lake campus just south of Gurnee. SEDOL educates about 550 students with learning disabilities at that location and serves another 800 children at Lake County public schools.

Elected officials at member districts serve on SEDOL's board. They voted 19-8 Wednesday, with one abstention, to pay for the $26.5 million building project.

At the centerpiece of the project is an $18 million, 65,000-square-foot classroom building for children with severe and profound mental and physical disabilities or the medically fragile. Another $8.5 million will fund renovations of existing facilities.

SEDOL will charge a member district under a formula of 70 percent based on its property tax value and 30 percent on its SEDOL usage.

Districts can pay the bill in a lump sum or in 20 or fewer years. Delp said all schools that were SEDOL members when the vote occurred must pay for the construction, even if they gain permission to quit the agency.

SEDOL's chief financial officer, Stephen Johns, said packets with financial options will be sent to member districts next week. He said they have until Aug. 1 to select an option.

Johns said member districts can't seek additional money specifically for SEDOL through a tax increase referendum. He said the payments from individual district budgets will begin in the 2009-10 academic year.

"It is difficult," Johns said. "Some districts are going to have an easier time than others to come up with the cash."

Special education tab

Here are the minimum amounts school districts will pay to the Special Education District of Lake County for a $26.5 million construction project. The 36 member districts will pay the tab over 20 or fewer years or in a lump sum.

• Winthrop Harbor Elementary District 1: $179,360

• Beach Park Elementary District 3: $901,560

• Zion Elementary District 6: $859,740

• Millburn Elementary District 24: $331,320

• Emmons Elementary District 33: $156,140

• Antioch Elementary District 34: $1.4 million

• Grass Lake Elementary District 36: $127,180

• Gavin Elementary District 37: $556,700

• Big Hollow Elementary District 38: $619,400

• Lake Villa Elementary District 41: $901,240

• Grayslake Elementary District 46: $1.1 million

• Woodland Elementary District 50: $2.2 million

• Gurnee Elementary District 56: $879,480

• Oak Grove Elementary District 68: $554,800

• Libertyville Elementary District 70: $1.2 million

• Roundout Elementary District 72: $262,840

• Hawthorn Elementary District 73: $2.1 million

• Mundelein Elementary District 75: $751,000

• Diamond Lake Elementary District 76: $462,420

• Fremont Elementary District 79: $1 million

• Lake Zurich Unit District 95: $3.3 million

• Kildeer-Countryside Elementary District 96: $1.5 million

• Aptakisic-Tripp Elementary District 102: $1.1 million

• Lincolnshire-Prairie View Elementary District 103: $1.2 million

• Fox Lake Elementary District 114: $392,360

• Round Lake Unit District 116: $2.2 million

• Antioch-Lake Villa Area High School District 117: $1.9 million

• Wauconda Unit District 118: $2.1 million

• Mundelein High School District 120: $1.8 million

• Warren Township High School District 121: $3.1 million

• Grant High School District 124: $1.5 million

• Stevenson High School District 125: $4.1 million

• Zion-Benton High School District 126: $1.9 million

• Grayslake High School District 127: $1.4 million

• Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128: $3.2 million

• North Chicago Unit District 187: $1.4 million

Source: Special Education District of Lake County