Community Groups Pull All the Stops in Referendum Debate

Editor's note: This is the first of a series of articles exploring the District 113 referendum. Check back later this week for more coverage.

Two community groups have been seeking support from voters since District 113 decided to ask residents for $89 million to help finance five years' worth of projects for Highland Park and Deerfield High Schools in January.

Get caught up on the District 113 referendum here.

One group has a history of getting results. Education First formed in 2010 to oppose the district's $133 million referendum that was ultimately defeated in 2011. The district reached out to members of Education First specifically as it went back to the drawing board to come up with this year's more modestly priced proposal.

The other group, Community Leaders Educating and Advocating for the Referendum in 113 (C.L.E.A.R. 113), sprung up in January. The group is advocating in favor of the referendum. It also boasts the leadership of Michelle Holleman, who, with her community group Friends of Rosewood, successfully advocated in favor of the Rosewood Beach redesign that the City Council and Park District of Highland Park approved in 2012.

Both groups have websites, Facebook pages and yard signs. Both have email address lists they send updates to. Both have submitted letters and blog posts to Patch.

In short, both groups have pulled all the stops to educate voters about the plans they favor.

New pools, higher taxes

The district's renovation plan, which C.L.E.A.R. favors, includes getting rid of building C on Highland Park's campus and replacing it with new classrooms. The physical education facilities in building C would be replaced with a a small, three court gymnasium on north end of campus. Both Deerfield and Highland Park would get new pools.

Highland Park's B building would be refurbished, and Deerfield would get a new media center. Deerfield would also be brought up to compliance with the American Disabilities Act.

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Education First thinks this proposal is more elaborate and costly than it should be.

"We strongly agree that our high schools need upgrades," said Frank Pirri, a Deerfield resident and the chairman of Education First. "We believe that there is a more affordable approach."

The district's plan is projected to cost $114 million. Of that total, $25 million would come from the district's fund balance and the remaining $89 million from District 113 residents. If the referendum passes, District 113 residents who own homes valued at $300,000 will pay $173 in taxes to the district in levy year 2013, a $47 increase from levy year 2012. If the referendum fails, those same homeowners would only pay $15 in taxes to District 113 in 2014 because the District paid off a significant amount of its debt this year. 

"It is a tax increase if you say, 'Let everything expire and don't do anything,'" said C.L.E.A.R. Organizing Committee member Ken Robertson, "but we have needs at both of these schools that have to be met."

Is cheaper better?

Education First, on the other hand, believes that by making the renovations list smaller and more affordable, the district can upgrade its schools using money from its fund balance without any taxpayer assistance.

"There is absolutely no need to build two new gymnasiums, no need to tear down the C building," Pirri said. 

Under Education First's plan, the C building at Highland Park would transition into a vocational training school. The pools at each high school would be upgraded rather than replaced.

Robertson believes that the pools are past the point of upgrade.

"These pools have outlived their life span," he said. "It's throwing good money after bad."

Robertson is also skeptical at Education First' suggestion to turn the C building in Highland Park into a vocational training program. He doesn't see the logic in attempting to replicate a Lake County College program that is already available to District 113 students.

"There's no way that in one building in Highland Park we can replicate the success of that program," Robertson said. "It doesn't pass the smell test."

Is a referendum necessary for renovations?

Pirri said the Education First plan may not be as grandiose as the plan the district is proposing, but at an estimated cost of $60 million it is significantly more affordable for taxpayers.

"It addresses the existing needs of the two schools," Pirri said. "The residents enjoy a reduction in their taxes as a result of not having to deal with the referendum."

Education First hopes that the referendum in April fails and that the district considers adopting the group's plan shortly after. Because the group's plan doesn't include taxpayer dollars, Pirri argues the district could begin making improvements immediately.

"This is not something where we have to wait until sufficient dollars become available," Pirri said. "The funds are there."

District 113 has enlisted the help of multiple groups of residents to volunteer hundreds of hours to assemble the plan the referendum would go towards. Robertson thinks that if the district could accomplish these renovations without the trouble of asking taxpayers, it probably would have done so.

"Why, if this money were actually available, go through the time, effort and pain of requesting a referendum?" he asked.

District 113's Assistant Superintendent of Finance had the answer to this question. 

Next up: District 113's Superintendent of Finance weighs in on how Education First would like to finance renovations to the high schools.

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