Faced with burgeoning enrollments and aging buildings, several school districts in DuPage County are asking voters to approve spending a staggering total of $290 million on their schools.
In four school districts, residents will face referendum questions Tuesday asking permission to construct eight new schools and renovate or upgrade about 65 others. Another school district is asking voters to support a tax increase in the educational fund.
Though a portion of the $290 million will pay for building new schools, substantial sums are being earmarked for rehabbing and expanding outdated school buildings.
Perhaps no building is more antiquated than York Community High School in Elmhurst Community Unit District 205. The original building was constructed during the 1920s and, even though it has undergone numerous renovations and additions over the years, officials say a massive face-lift is needed to keep pace with technology and to upgrade academic programs.
The sprawling complex, for example, has outdated wiring and other infrastructure that is incompatible with computers. The unventilated basement athletic track area is so run down that many students train in the hallways. Science labs are 50 years old and woefully inadequate. Roofs are leaking, and some windows are in such bad shape they can’t be opened or closed. About 2,000 of the district’s 6,800 students are enrolled at the high school.
While the district would keep some portions of the high school complex, much of it would be demolished to make way for new construction.
To pay for that work as well as for repairs and additions to other schools, the District 205 school board is asking voters to approve a $77 million referendum issue.
About $70 million would be used for rebuilding the high school. About $7 million would go to the district’s 12 elementary schools, replacing temporary classrooms with 16 permanent ones and making elementary buildings accessible to people with disabilities.
If the referendum measure passes, the district will be eligible for about $14 million in state grants as well.
In an effort to raise public awareness of the needs at York, officials have given tours to hundreds of visitors at special open houses. So far, about 1,400 people have been through the building.
“You drive by the school . . . and it looks fine. But people who have not been in the school for a while, they are very surprised when they see it,” said Jim Ruprecht, who heads a citizens committee in support of the referendum proposal.
Meanwhile, farther west, where Elgin-based School District 46 is being battered by phenomenal population growth, voters are being asked to approve a $200 million referendum issue. The bond issue would not raise taxes because it would replace existing debt that is about to be paid off.
The funds would be used for building eight new schools, expanding 18 schools and upgrading 32 others. If the referendum plan passes, the district also is eligible for a $45 million state grant.
District 46, which draws students from DuPage, Kane and Cook Counties, has an enrollment of 36,575. It is the second-largest school district in the state, after the Chicago Public Schools. About 9,000 students live in DuPage County.
Severe growing pains also are being experienced at The Lane Elementary School in Hinsdale, which officials say has not had a major renovation in 30 years. The 43-year-old school has seen its population swell 72 percent during the last seven years.
More Top Picks Lawn Mower
Hinsdale Community Consolidated School District 181 wants to spend $6.3 million to refurbish The Lane. It is the district’s smallest school in terms of space, but it eventually will have the second-largest enrollment.
“We don’t have any more space to put the kids,” said Sharon Huffman, principal at The Lane.
Already 50 students attend classes in portable trailers, and inside the main building storage closets serve as classrooms.
The $6.3 million bond issue would pay for a $3.8 million addition at The Lane, including six new classrooms, a multipurpose room, additional bathrooms, an expanded art room and more storage space. An additional $2.5 million would go toward renovations, such as upgrading the heating system, replacing old windows and enclosing open classrooms.
On a smaller scale, increased enrollment also is bedeviling officials at Gower Elementary School District 62 in Burr Ridge.
For years, enrollment remained fairly constant. Last summer, however, 30 new pupils moved into the district, and officials estimate that district enrollment, now at 920, will grow by another 50 to 150 pupils over the next five years.
The school district wants to update its middle and elementary schools, which are more than 20 years old.
If voters approve a $6.5 million referendum measure, the district will be able to keep class sizes small by building additions to the district’s two schools, and will be able to add new roofs, heating systems and an intercom.
In Villa Park/Lombard School District 45, officials are hoping a successful referendum will solve financial woes, including a projected $1.3 million deficit, and help them maintain small classes.
The school board last week voted to eliminate the equivalent of 29.5 teaching positions for the next school year. District officials have promised to restore the positions if voters approve a property tax hike to raise the tax rate to $2.57 per $100 of assessed property valued from $2.22. That would produce enough revenue to offset the deficit, officials said, and allow them to rehire teachers.