Voters say no to Community District 300’s $355M bond referendum

Voters Tuesday rejected Algonquin-based Community Unit District 300’s $355.5 million bond referendum to fund a new career and technical education center and 20 proposed school safety projects, according to unofficial election results.

With votes tallied from Kane and McHenry counties and small portions of Cook and DeKalb counties, the numbers — which are not yet certified and do not include late-arriving mail-in or provisional ballots — show the referendum receiving 18,754 yes votes and 19,678 no votes.

District officials did not respond to comments on the vote outcome Wednesday.

When questioned prior to the election, Superintendent Martina Smith said each project was in response to a specific need, and the initiatives chosen were meant to keep students and schools safe and protect District 300’s investment.

If the referendum failed, Smith said at the time, “projects would not move forward.”

Broken down by county, Kane voters were closely divided over the issue but narrowly passed it, according to Tuesday night election counts. The unofficial count was 13,924 yes votes and 13,458 no.

Conversely, McHenry County voters made it clear they did not support the measure. It received 6,190 negative votes and 4,792 in favor, unofficial results showed.

The Cook County clerk’s office reported 37 yes votes and 28 no votes. In DeKalb County, there was one yes vote and two no votes. Each county has one precinct within the district’s boundaries.

District 300 did extensive outreach to inform voters about the referendum, including community meetings held at several area schools.

There was organized opposition to the referendum from groups that included the Algonquin Township GOP, the Kane County GOP, and a group called D300 IL Watchdogs, which distributed yard signs urging voters to shoot down the measure. They are now advising people to save their signs should the district make another attempt to pass the initiative at a future date.

Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The (Elgin) Courier-News.