Morton Grove school district asks voters for $56 million
Morton Grove’s Golf School District 67 is asking voters in the June 28 election to approve a $56 million referendum question to construct a new school building for all the district’s students on the Hynes Elementary School campus, and eventually sell or lease Golf Middle School.
Administrators say the growing number of students in the district has created a need for additional space to keep class sizes down.
However, the price tag is generating some opposition from residents, including some parents.
District 67 Superintendent Susan Coleman said the district needs more space.
“We have run out of space, and even with using temporary trailers, our average class size is the highest of all neighboring districts,” Coleman said. “Without adequate space, our students have limited access to the 21st century programming that is readily available to students in other districts. As a result, our academic ratings are starting to slip.”
The district had 655 students enrolled in 2016, and over five years, grew to 704 students in 2021, according to its website.
If the referendum passes, it would cost the owners of a $360,000 home an additional $914 per year in property taxes, or $845 for a senior, said Tina Ewanio, the district’s director of business services. Owners of homes worth more, or less, can consult the tax calculator on the district’s website to see what they would pay.
She added that the referendum question would raise the district’s tax rate by 0.86; for example, the 2020 tax rate (payable in 2021) was 2.766. With the proposed referendum the tax rate would have been 3.626.
Some parents of Hynes and Golf students have said residents do not know much about the plan.
“A lot of people don’t have a clue,” said Katie Leslie, whose son Dan is a Hynes kindergarten student. Leslie herself attended both Hynes and Golf.
“They feel they’ve been left in the dark. They haven’t gotten notifications. Yes, they had informational meetings. Postcards went out, but some neighbors didn’t get them. There was a good turnout the first night, but at the last (informational meeting) it was mostly teachers and staff. I feel scare tactics have been used.”
Leslie said the district could have considered other plans.
“You’re knocking down a school, you lose a lot of green (space, on the Hynes property),” she said. “My mother, Susan Pellicano, was a District 67 board member in the 1990s. She is not impressed. They could have gone other avenues.”
Coleman believed the district has adequately informed its constituents.
“Over the last eight months, the district held seven public engagement sessions and conducted two community-wide phone surveys and an on-line survey to determine the community’s priorities in developing this plan,” she said. “These informational meetings are an extension of the consistent engagement we’ve had with the community the last two years.”
Coleman said for safety reasons, tours of the two buildings could not be undertaken during school hours.
“During our informational sessions, we have had a great conversation with members of the community about the significant space challenge our students face daily and the community-driven solution,” Coleman said. “We answered every question posed by members of the community and even had several one-on-one discussions with them after the meeting. We know this is a major request of the community so we want to do everything we can to answer their questions.” One parent of Hynes student, who did not want to be identified because of what he worried would be repercussions against his child at school, said he would support the referendum if the district were building an addition instead of a replacement building. He cited Illinois’ alreadyhigh property taxes.
However, Coleman said the district has been prudent with spending.
“We spend the least per pupil of any peer district in the region and our tax rate is 20% less than our neighboring districts,” Coleman said. “We know this is a significant request of the community in a difficult time, but unfortunately a referendum is the only way we can solve our significant space issues that are holding our students back.”
One more District 67 board meeting is scheduled prior to the vote, at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 16, at Golf Middle School.
Coleman said referendum language will be as follows: “Shall the Board of Education of Golf School District Number 67, Cook County, Illinois, build and equip a new school building to serve kindergarten through 8th grade and replace the Golf Middle School and Hynes Elementary School Buildings, improve the site thereof and issue bonds of said School District to the amount of $56,000,000 for the purpose of paying the costs thereof ?”
“We know this is a significant request of the community in a difficult time, but unfortunately a referendum is the only way we can solve our significant space issues that are holding our students back.”
— District 67 Superintendent Susan Coleman