Dist. 303 residents bombarded with pros, cons of April referendum

St. Charles Unit District 303's $114 million referendum is either the right-sized improvement during a tough economic time, or a waste of money that does little to improve education other than having nice buildings.

Those are the competing messages voters must sift through during the next several weeks before they cast a ballot in April. There are two main forces at odds.

The Citizens for Excellence in Education group has resurrected itself to promote the district's latest referendum push. The effort could be the group's longest ever sustained push as the $114 million question is only stage one of a long-term push to renovate or rebuild every school in the district as envisioned by an original $294 million plan.

"The referendum is a way to provide a lot of improvements in the schools without a tax increase," said Julie Feldsien, co-chair of the group. "That's the primary message. We appreciate the fact that the economy is in a precarious position. But the results that came out of the summit indicate that all of our buildings are in some need. We are choosing to do only some of the schools at this time, but the district is very aware of the other needs. The decisions that were made were a direct result of what the community said they wanted."

The members of Citizens for Fiscal and Academic Responsibility don't buy that message. The group opposed the $294 million plan from the beginning and have slammed the summit process as a tainted view of what district staff - not the community - wants. The sentiment is no different for the $114 million question. Not only does the group believe revamping schools won't address the issue of improving learning in classrooms, but it believes the financing of the money will hamstring the district's ability to finance further building improvements for the remaining schools.

"Old buildings have nothing to do with the quality of education," said CFAR member Brian Litteral. "How did we go from the No. 1 priority of smaller class sizes to bricks and mortar? The real needs are being held hostage. It's not the buildings. It's what's happening in the classrooms. The good news is this referendum is cheaper, but it still does nothing."

Litteral doesn't even believe the referendum stays true to the summit process the district invested so much time in to find what district residents wanted for their schools.

"Other than (Superintendent) Don Schlomann's mouth, where did this ($114 million referendum) question originate in the community?" Litteral said. "We could've saved all this time if Don Schlomann would've just told us what to do a year ago.