A letter certifying Lincoln-Way High School’s eligibility for state construction funding could reduce the cost of school expansion for taxpayers, according to Supt. Lawrence Wyllie.
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Voters in the rapidly growing school district will be asked March 17 to approve a $60 million bond issue to finance an expansion plan that would remodel both Lincoln-Way campuses into two separate four-year high schools.
If the referendum passes, the school district stands to gain as much as $23 million in state funding, a sum that would be cut from the tax bills. Passage of the referendum is crucial to provide enough funds for the state to match.
“In order for us to get anything from the state, we’re going to have to pass this referendum,” Wyllie said last week.
The state funding would come in the form of a matching grant of 51 percent of eligible expenses. School officials estimate about $45 million worth of the $60 million project falls into that category, but the amount is subject to priority ranking and the judgment of the Illinois Capital Development Board.
“Anything closely associated with academics and instruction” is likely to meet the Capital Development Board’s criteria, as does life-safety work, Wyllie said. Administrative spaces and athletic fields do not qualify, he said.
School officials will learn how much money is likely to come their way in the summer, he said.
If the school district’s estimates are correct and the state comes through with the money, the average taxpayer in a home with a market value of $150,000 could see his share of the bill cut from $70 to $45 a year, the superintendent said.
School officials have pledged that the taxpayers’ payments would be reduced by whatever amount comes in from the state.
The district has grown by 1,200 students in the last 6 years.