District 95 to host information sessions on $77.6 million referendum

Lake Zurich Unit District 95 will host a series of six community coffees to provide information to voters about the $77.6 million referendum question on the March 20 primary ballot.

If approved, the proposed bond issue will replace the current $65 million bond that was approved through referendum in 2000 and is set to expire.

The new bond would be issued with an overall lower annual bond payment. If the request passes, the district estimates property taxes would decrease around $14 for every $100,000 of a resident's home value.

With the referendum money, the district says it can install air conditioning in the five non-air-conditioned schools, renovate the library media centers at Spencer Loomis Elementary, Sarah Adams Elementary, Isaac Fox Elementary, Middle School South, Middle School North, and Lake Zurich High School, and build STEAM labs at the middle schools and at the high school.

The money would also pay for several improvements at Seth Paine Elementary, such as a new cafeteria, band room and staff work spaces.

Perhaps the biggest project the money would fund is construction of a new May Whitney Elementary School to replace the facility built in 1929.

District officials will attend each event to answer questions and provide information, including architectural renderings of the projects. Each event will run from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

The coffees are scheduled for: Jan. 17, Isaac Fox Elementary, 395 W. Cuba Road, Lake Zurich; Jan. 31, Lake Zurich High School, 300 Church St., Lake Zurich; Feb. 7, May Whitney Elementary, 100 Church St., Lake Zurich; Feb. 15, Spencer Loomis Elementary, 1 Hubbard Lane, Hawthorn Woods; Feb. 27, Seth Paine Elementary, 50 Miller Road, Lake Zurich; and March 7, Sarah Adams Elementary, 555 Old Mill Grove Road, Lake Zurich.