BUILDING A BETTER DISTRICTA Movement By Citizens Demanding Transparency, Accountability, and Community Engagement for Central CUSD 301/Burlington in the State of Illinois.Building A Better District is a taxpayer-led movement and is not affiliated with, nor endorsed by, the Illinois State or Kane County Regional Board of Education, nor any individual school district, or administration/Board of Education. |
In 2016, a $22 million referendum was passed by the taxpayers to "build out" or "complete" Central High School. The Board of Education has two sets of approved minutes in July 2016 (page 3, item 5.2) and August 2016 (page 4, item 4.3) where they stated that the improvements covered by the $22 million would mean the high school could meet district growth for 20-25 years from project completion (2018). Just 6 years later, in November 2022, the community was approached to approve $195 million referendum to build a brand new 450,000 sq.ft. high school that could accommodate 2,400-3,000 students. What happened to the 20-25 years of growth the community paid for through the $22 million referendum in 2016? The improvements were completed in 2018 so this means they didn't even last 5 years. What data was utilized by the district to determine the improvements to Central High School would accommodate growth for 20 years leading to a $22 million referendum to the taxpayers? These calculations are performed in a formula that is used across the nation by demography firms working for school districts EVERYWHERE. To say they used square footage instead of enrollment means we either have completely incompetent administration or they are covering up the fact that they performed NO due diligence in the months leading up to the 2016 referendum. | How could the district fail to have a single document, analysis, or set of internal minutes showing how they calculated a $22 million ask and a timeline of 20 years? |
The taxpayers PAID and did not get the 20-years of capacity the District said they were paying for. Now they are asking us for $224.6 Million MORE. WE MUST VOTE NO TO THIS REFERENDUM. Our Board of Education has a fiduciary duty to make sure the district's representations are accurate and fair before asking the taxpayers for any funding for future growth. The community must insist on demanding the board perform its appropriate due diligence by investing in proper data analysis through an independent outside demography firm to identify how our current school buildings could be best utilized and to perform a formal Forecast Enrollment & Facilities Analysis upon which to base future construction and expansion needs. |