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$275 million bond referendum for Yorkville District 115 looks to be defeated · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Two hundred and seventy five million dollar bond referendum for
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  Speaker 1: Yorkville District one point fifteen looks to be defeated. Written
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  Speaker 1: by Joey Weslow, This article is being read by an
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  Speaker 1: automated voice brought to you by Everlett. With votes still
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  Speaker 1: being tallied, it's looking like voters are rejecting the two
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  Speaker 1: hundred and seventy five million dollar bond proposal from Yorkville
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  Speaker 1: School District one to fifteen for new and expanded facilities.
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  Speaker 1: With twenty one percent of twenty seven precincts counted in
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  Speaker 1: Kendall County, sixty seven per fifty five percent of voters
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  Speaker 1: have voted against, compared to just thirty two p forty
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  Speaker 1: five percent voting in favor in Caine County, with both
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  Speaker 1: precincts in the district reporting, seventy nine residents voted yes
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  Speaker 1: and seventy six voted no. Before the election, Yorkville one
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  Speaker 1: of fifteen Superintendent mad Zedeker said if the referendum failed,
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  Speaker 1: the district would come back with a downsized proposal on
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  Speaker 1: the November general election ballot. This would most likely mean
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  Speaker 1: a similar expansion plan would be on the ballot minus
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  Speaker 1: the performing Arts Center and the Athletic Fieldhouse, lowering the
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  Speaker 1: total coast by at least sixty million dollars. If the
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  Speaker 1: new referendum passes in November, students will first be able
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  Speaker 1: to use the new buildings in the fall of twenty
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  Speaker 1: twenty nine. Zedeker has said the new and expanded buildings
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  Speaker 1: are needed to solve the district's unsustainable overcrowding. Other district
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  Speaker 1: officials have said classrooms are currently bursting at the seams
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  Speaker 1: from booming student enrollment growth that has far outpaced the
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  Speaker 1: community's investment in new classroom space. The March seventeenth referendum
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  Speaker 1: included a plan to combine twenty million dollars in the
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  Speaker 1: district's reserves to construct a new middle school and a
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  Speaker 1: new elementary school. A new academic wing is listed for
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  Speaker 1: the high school, enabling all the students at the Freshman
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  Speaker 1: Academy to be moved into the one main high school building.
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  Speaker 1: The plan also converts a current elementary school into an
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  Speaker 1: early childhood center. What could have been a factor for
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  Speaker 1: voters is the district could soon be the recipient of
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  Speaker 1: sixty eight, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars from the
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  Speaker 1: city in funds collected from upfront payments from the developers
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  Speaker 1: of the Project Cardinal Data Center and the Project Steel
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  Speaker 1: Data Center. The money is still subject to full final
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  Speaker 1: approval on both projects. Zedeker said the funds will drastically
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  Speaker 1: reduce the tax burden on homeowners and property owners for
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  Speaker 1: residents without students in the district. Zedeker said the increased
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  Speaker 1: property values for everybody in the community is always a
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  Speaker 1: nice bonus. Enrollment has tripled in the past twenty years,
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  Speaker 1: with another eight hundred students expected to be added to
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  Speaker 1: the already squeeze classrooms. According to the district's demographer, classes
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  Speaker 1: are being taught in hallways and other programming is taking
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  Speaker 1: place in inadequate spaces. As as Zedeker said during the
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  Speaker 1: State of the District last September, we have special ed
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  Speaker 1: classes held in math classrooms that don't have proper accessibility
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  Speaker 1: to bathrooms. We're not able to offer all the extracurricular
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  Speaker 1: activities our kids and families want. To help accommodate the
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  Speaker 1: classroom capacity crisis, the district spent three point nine million
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  Speaker 1: dollars for temporary classroom structures outside four elementary schools. School
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  Speaker 1: district officials have even gone before the city Council to
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  Speaker 1: oppose new residential developments to help slow the rate of
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  Speaker 1: student enrollment growth. We simply do not have the resources
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  Speaker 1: to invest in our infrastructure to make the necessary upgrades
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  Speaker 1: to overcome or overcrowding challenges, Zedeker said during a city
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  Speaker 1: council meeting. It is beginning to hamper the ability for
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  Speaker 1: us to provide the education opportunities and experiences that our
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  Speaker 1: kids and families deserve