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Yorkville District 115 going for $159 million bond referendum on November ballot · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Yorkville District one hundred and fifteen going for one hundred
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  Speaker 1: and fifty nine million dollars bond referendum on November ballot.
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  Speaker 1: Written by Joey Weslow, This article is being read by
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  Speaker 1: an automated voice brought to you by Everlett. Voters in
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  Speaker 1: Yorkville School District one hundred and fifteen in March rejected
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  Speaker 1: a two hundred seventy five million dollars referendum for school
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  Speaker 1: improvements and expansions, and now the district is coming back
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  Speaker 1: with a lower amount in November. A one hundred fifty
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  Speaker 1: nine million dollars tax neutral plan will be placed on
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  Speaker 1: the November third ballot after being unanimously approved by the
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  Speaker 1: school board on July thirteenth. The failed March referendum included
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  Speaker 1: a new academic wing for the high school, enabling all
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  Speaker 1: the students at the Freshman Academy to be moved into
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  Speaker 1: the one main high school building. It also included high
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  Speaker 1: school machinery updates and classroom spaces. A likely sticking point
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  Speaker 1: for voters then was the inclusion of a new performing
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  Speaker 1: arts center and an athletic fieldhouse for a combined sixty
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  Speaker 1: million dollars. It was initially suggested by the district that
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  Speaker 1: the new referendum would be similar to the failed one,
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  Speaker 1: minus the new performing arts centre and field house, the
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  Speaker 1: new one hundred fifty nine million dollars referendum plan is
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  Speaker 1: far less, minus sixty million dollars, An extra fifty nine
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  Speaker 1: million dollars in work has been shaved off in addition
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  Speaker 1: to the discarded performing Art Center and athletic field house.
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  Speaker 1: This time the plan would include funding for two new
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  Speaker 1: school buildings, some buildings being closed, zero expansions at the
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  Speaker 1: high school, and a zero tax increase option for residents.
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  Speaker 1: While the challenge of overcrowding in our schools remains, the
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  Speaker 1: way we address it must align with what our community
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  Speaker 1: wants and can support, district officials said, we are addressing
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  Speaker 1: overcrowding concerns with a zero tax increase. By working together,
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  Speaker 1: we are responding to our students' needs while keeping our
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  Speaker 1: tax rate flat for everyone. If approved by voters, the
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  Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty nine million dollars will be combined
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  Speaker 1: with twenty million dollars in reserve funds to support the projects.
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  Speaker 1: The district is currently hosting a series of town hall
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  Speaker 1: meetings to discuss the plan. The next meeting is six
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  Speaker 1: thirty pm September twenty ninth at Yorkville Middle School. The
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  Speaker 1: money will fund a new middle school and a new
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  Speaker 1: elementary school. This will provide the district with five kindergarten
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  Speaker 1: through fifth grade buildings and two six through eighth grade buildings.
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  Speaker 1: District officials said this will ensure students stay in their
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  Speaker 1: local schools and reduce and balance transitions throughout the district.
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  Speaker 1: Many K eight improvements desired by the community can be achieved,
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  Speaker 1: including adding classroom and program spaces, enhancing safety, and expanding
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  Speaker 1: support for students, teachers, and staff. With this plan, district
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  Speaker 1: officials posted. However, with the new construction, some older schools
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  Speaker 1: are being taken offline. This includes Bristol Grade School and
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  Speaker 1: Yorkville Grade School. The district said Bristol Grade School may
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  Speaker 1: be repurposed or sold. With the current overcrowding at the
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  Speaker 1: Early Childhood Center, operations are being moved to Circle Center
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  Speaker 1: Grade School using non referendum funds. The district said the
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  Speaker 1: current Early Childhood Center building would be repurposed. The district
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  Speaker 1: said the new plan will expand accelerated learning, special education,
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  Speaker 1: dual language, collaborative learning, spaces and teacher workspaces. It also
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  Speaker 1: said it will increase space for specialized instruction, health services
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  Speaker 1: and provide adequate gymnasium space in the K eight buildings.
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  Speaker 1: If the upcoming referendum fails, rapid district growth will lead
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  Speaker 1: to pack classrooms, restrict athletic and extracurricular spaces, and eliminate
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  Speaker 1: critical learning areas. District officials posted, these unmanageable capacity limits
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  Speaker 1: will leave our schools severely compromised, creating an unfeasible environment
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  Speaker 1: for student learning and academic success. The district said some
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  Speaker 1: new hiring may be necessary due to increased enrollment, but
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  Speaker 1: many staff members will be reallocated from existing buildings that
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  Speaker 1: will be taken offline what led us here. Across the district,
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  Speaker 1: enrollment has tripled in the past twenty years, with an
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  Speaker 1: additional eight hundred students expected to be added in upcoming years,
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  Speaker 1: according to the district's demographer. After sixty seven point five
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  Speaker 1: three percent of voters rejected the two hundred seventy five
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  Speaker 1: million dollars bond proposal on March seventeenth, district officials said
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  Speaker 1: it was an opportunity to trade size its referendum, removing
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  Speaker 1: fifty nine million dollars this time around, helped make the
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  Speaker 1: November referendum proposal a zero tax increase option. Also in March,
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  Speaker 1: the city Council announced that the district could be the
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  Speaker 1: recipient of sixty eight million, two hundred and fifty thousand
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  Speaker 1: dollars from the city in funds collected from upfront payments
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  Speaker 1: from the developers of the Project Cardinal and the Project
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  Speaker 1: Steel data centers. The money still is subject to the
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  Speaker 1: projects closing on their properties. Superintendent Matt Zedeker said while
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  Speaker 1: the funds could drastically reduce the tax burden on homeowners
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  Speaker 1: and property owners, the assumption that the data center money
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  Speaker 1: would be able to take care of all our needs
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  Speaker 1: was one that was pretty prevalent in the community before
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  Speaker 1: that March vote. Zedeker said classes are being taught in
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  Speaker 1: hallways and other programming is taking place in inadequate spaces.
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  Speaker 1: He said the overcrowded classrooms limit extracurricular activities and pose
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  Speaker 1: safety challenges. To help accommodate the classroom capacity crisis, the
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  Speaker 1: district previously spent three point nine million dollars for temporary
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  Speaker 1: classroom structures outside four elementary schools. School district officials have
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  Speaker 1: even gone before the city Council to oppose new residential
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  Speaker 1: developments to help slow the rate of student enrollment growth.