U-46 enrollment continues to drop; funding for school renovations gets underway
The number of students enrolled in Elgin Area School District U-46 continues to plummet, according to the latest data shared with school board members. At the same time, the district is beginning to put the borrowing in place to fund $380 million worth of school improvements.
The district's student population is down 13% from the 2015-16 school year. That was the last time enrollment topped 40,000 students. The school population dipped by an average of 625 students every year since then - leaving 34,864 students currently in classrooms.
Brian Lindholm, the district's chief of staff, attributed the drain to declining local birthrates. He said local private schools have seen comparable drops, though Elgin Math and Science Academy is at capacity.
Lindholm predicted the student population will bottom out at about 30,000 if the trend continues as expected. Just about all of the enrollment decline is concentrated at the elementary and middle school levels. Canton Middle School is particularly notable, Lindholm said, because there are fewer than 400 students there, leaving the building operating at about 50% of its capacity.
Following that news, school board members viewed several school renovation and expansion plans funded, in part, by the referendum voters approved earlier this year. That referendum included a plan to borrow $179 million and add that money to $100 million of savings and another $100 million in working cash bonds and debt certificates to fund all the improvements.
Among the aims of the referendum are moving to a middle school model with grades 6 to 8 together, using space in elementary schools to expand early childhood programs and replacing or renovating older elementary schools.
Because voters approved the referendum, the district will borrow money equal to the old debt it will retire. That means people paying property taxes to U-46 will see the debt service portion of the district's tax levy remain flat rather than see a smaller tax bill. Taxes to the district would have fallen by $178 in 2024 for a home with a $300,000 market value.
School board members will now use some of that retained borrowing power to start working on the list of school improvements.
The board learned it will cost $52.4 million to transition Hawk Hollow from an elementary to a middle school. That's in line with the administration's cost projections for the project. That work is set to be done by Wood Dale-based George Sollitt Construction. It will be completed by July 2025.
Next in line is the construction of a new Elgin Middle School and an addition for and renovation of Kimball Middle School.