Schaumburg District 54 board votes to borrow $70 million

After much debate, Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 board members voted 6-1 Thursday to borrow $70 million, with the aim of paying it off in four years.

Board member Jim Pye cast the “no” vote, calling the plan a bad idea.

“We are not being good stewards of taxpayer money,” he said. “We’re asking for $20.5 million more than can be sold as tax-exempt bonds. This results in significantly higher interest payments. District 54 will not pay for this wasteful spending. Taxpayers will.”

Administrators and other board members pointed to external financial pressures as the reason to borrow the money to pay for capital projects.

Among those factors is an anticipated cut in federal funding, of which the district received $10.9 million this year. Much of that is for the most vulnerable populations, including special education, low-income and at-risk students, Superintendent Andy DuRoss said.

The state’s Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) also hasn’t kept up with inflation, officials said. The district’s current receipt of $1,337 per student represents a 19% increase since EBF was established in 2018, but inflation has risen 31.7% during the same period.

Increasing transportation costs is putting further pressure on the budget, officials said.

The new debt would affect taxpayers proportionately to the value of their homes. The owner of a $300,000 home would pay an additional $90 in 2026, which would go up to $180 for the remaining three years, district officials estimate.

Board member Bob Kaplan was among those who defended the plan as the best road out of an unfortunate circumstance.

“If there was a way that we could fund the things that we need to fund at this time, I would join you in your concerns,” he told Pye. “But I think you did not have any other solutions, nor did I, nor did anyone on this board.”

Board member Mary Kay Prusnick also backed the measure.

“I don’t think anything in our budgeting process of the last 15 years that we have been debt-free has been a miss,” she said. “We added onto Dirksen, Collins, Link, Churchill. We were able to have full-day kindergarten. When districts around the Northwest suburbs are struggling to find out how they can do this, we’ve done it for 11 years, I think. And we built the Early Learning Center, extremely expanding the capacity of students that we can serve here in District 54 and build the best foundation for them.”

Board member Bill Harper agreed.

“I’m not willing to go from an excellent district to a good district,” he said. “People moved into this town and this district because of our excellent programs and I’m not willing to cut staff or close schools or cut programs, and that’s the bottom line.”

The board’s initial action authorizes the borrowing of the first $50 million, with the remaining $20 million to follow in two years.

The funding will pay for this past summer’s capital projects and yet-to-be-finalized projects in the summers of 2026 and 2027. The recently completed work includes a major renovation of Lincoln Prairie School in Hoffman Estates and roofing, parking lot, masonry, health life safety and painting projects across the district. District 54 has 28 schools.