'No' to District 303 referendum
St. Charles Community Unit School District 303 is pitching a "no tax increase" referendum to spend $114 million to rebuild or renovate three middle schools and build a brand new Davis Elementary School. School officials propose to do this by replacing bonds the district is retiring with new bonds, thus keeping the tax rate flat.
To some, it might not seem like a tax increase because old debt would be paid off while the district takes on the new debt. However, if voters reject the proposal, they could pay about $20 less in taxes.
There's no doubt some district school buildings need attention. We agree proper access for disabled students is important. So are security and air conditioning. And it would be nice to not need mobile classrooms. Despite these needs to the physical structures, the teachers are doing an excellent job with the learning structure.
Which begs the question of whether a building has much to do with the quality of education. To some degree, certainly. But consider: In 2006-07, 89.2 percent of Davis students met or exceeded state standards on all state tests. That is identical to the district's overall average for all schools. In 2007-08, the first year ESL students took the same test as everyone else, Davis saw 87.7 percent of its students meet or exceed state standards on all state tests. Both the school and district numbers were well above the state averages (at least 13 percentage points better) in both years. For the middle schools, Haines' numbers are off the charts compared to the district and the state. In 2006-08, 95.7 percent of students met or exceeded state testing standards. In 2007-08 they were even better at 95.9 percent. That's more than 20 percentage points better than the state both years. The numbers for Thompson and Wredling middle schools rival those of Haines.
As presented, we have concerns with the referendum for this district of 57 square miles that educates nearly 14,000 students from seven towns plus unincorporated areas.
District officials pitch the plan as a no-tax-rate increase question, but haven't talked much about the tax rate falling if the referendum fails. Yes, it would only fall by pennies and the savings is less than $2 a month. But in this tough brutal economy, every penny matters.
District officials say this is a proposal created by the community. That's partially true. The community's priority was reducing class size. District officials said that idea fell off the table when the true costs of doing that were known. Then there was a plan that would improve every building in the district for about $294 million. District officials place a lot of faith in its Summit 303 process, and that's the plan the Summit called for. However, it's not the question that made it on the ballot. That's because a subsequent phone survey of taxpayers negated the Summit results.
Even the $114 million plan didn't emerge until minutes before the school board voted to put the question on the ballot. It all felt like the song lyric, "If you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with." The question on the ballot is not what the community nor the school board wanted. The question on the ballot is the question the board felt had the best chance to pass. If the referendum passes, it would seem certain the district will be back with at least one, possibly two, questions that, if passed, would have to raise the tax rate to address the remaining schools in the district.
It all seems too rushed, too incomplete and mildly misleading, but more importantly, ill timed. This is not the economic climate for nonessential tax increases.
For April 7, we recommend a "no" vote.