Patrick Ferrell/Special to the Tribune
Village officials in Homer Glen say they will keep pushing for a way to build a new high school in their community, even after the Lockport Township High School District 205 board last week rejected plans to put an advisory question on the November ballot.
All trustees agreed to continue working on a solution at Tuesdays Village Board meeting, where some vented about the school district, with at least one trustee and some members of the audience calling for a study on detachment from the high school district, which also serves Lockport and Crest Hill.
The referendum question would have been necessary to access state construction grant funding and move forward with a plan for the village to help build an $80 to $90 million school through a property tax increase, $500,000 from its sales tax fund and its bonding authority via home rule status. To help pay the bond debt, it would rely on proceeds from Build America Bonds, a federal stimulus program that pays back 35 cents on the dollar of interest but is set to expire in December.
“It seems pretty unlikely that we will be able to take advantage of that program and have everything lined up this year because the question is not on the November ballot,” said Trustee Laurel Ward, who has been heading the proposal discussion for the village.
Ward suggested she and her fellow trustees go back to the drawing board to see if the village can find an alternate solution to the extreme overcrowding at the school districts East Campus. While construction of a new school is typically the school districts job, village officials say the overcrowded school system is hampering their towns ability to grow.
Voters in the school district have rejected five building bond referendum questions in the past several years. Those tax increases have generally been supported by precincts in Homer Glen.
School board member Cindy Polke, who spoke at the village board meeting, blamed her counterparts from Lockport for opting not to put the advisory referendum on Novembers ballot, essentially halting the villages proposal.
“You put together a proposal that had promise, but the vote again seemed to fall along property lines. Three of the four no votes came from board members who live in Lockport,” Polke said.
“We need to look at the viability of (detachment),” Trustee Mary Niemiec said. “We fought so hard to incorporate 10 years ago as a place to raise our kids. A strong school district is part of that strong community.”
“We are going to have to stand up. We are going to have to fight; we keep getting slapped in the face,” resident Laura Bugos said at the village board meeting.
In rejecting the referendum request, school board members cited a lack of information on the villages plan as well as a lack of time to inform the public about it. Supt. Garry Raymond said last week that the villages plan isnt completely dead.
The school district is also considering two other plans to alleviate the overcrowding. One calls for going to a sixth referendum in 2012; another calls for building a $5.4 million addition to the East campus, but that is largely seen as a short-term solution.
