Once upon a time, there was a growing Central Illinois college town with a problem: overcrowding in schools. The school district, which had already purchased land for a new high school, decided to put a referendum on the ballot to raise money for the building construction.
Opponents of the project said the area would be congested with traffic and didn’t have a major thoroughfare. The location would add to busing and transportation costs, and growth of the city — they said — was going to happen on the opposite side of town.
“Please don’t tell me we’re doing this in the best interest of the children – we’re not,” said one opponent. “We’re doing this because we own 50 acres.”
Project supporters said the site was workable and the location is easily accessible; and that the plan for a new school would relieve congestion at some schools and would allow more educational opportunities for students.
Well folks, if you’re following along at home … I’m not talking about Champaign. I’m not talking about Urbana. And the tale I will finish below ended 20 years ago.
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If you read our interview with Champaign Unit 4 Schools Superintendent Judy Wiegand from last week, you wouldn’t have been surprised when you saw the outcome of Tuesday’s Unit 4 Schools High School Referendum.
It’s pretty rare for school referendum to pass on the first try, and according to Wiegand, it had never happened in Champaign.
The outcome: a 5 percent difference between the Yes votes (11, 781) and the Nos (12,950).
Under the circumstances, I’d say that’s a victory for Champaign Unit 4. I’m impressed that the vote was as close as this indicates it was, considering a number of factors. But indulge me while I mention only three:
1) The quick turnaround time. The district voted to add the referendum to the November ballot only on August 11, and that after a restless summer of not being able to settle on a site.
2) The lack of a strong grassroots effort to support the referendum. An organization called “Friends of Champaign Schools” tried to fill this role — but other than have a Facebook page and a few yard signs, there wasn’t much tangible impact. More concerning was the lack of information about this organization and who was involved with it. Nameless and faceless just doesn’t cut it when you are trying to rally a community behind a cause.
3) Can I borrow the school board invisibility cloak? Dr. Wiegand was clearly the face of the referendum campaign, and worked tirelessly to that end. There was Dr. Wiegand giving radio interviews, talking with the Chamber, and any other community group that would listen.
On Tuesday night, Unit 4 School Board president Laurie Bonnett gave a live interview to WCIA Channel 3’s Amanda Porterfield while awaiting results. Her message was that the district would analyze the results and see where the “no’ votes came from, and regroup. She was both adamant that the site would not change: “We purchased the land, so that’s where the new high school is going to go” but later on in the evening said, “If anyone has a a plan to add 500 seats, bring it to the board.”
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As you may have guessed, the school system I was referring to in my little story above is Unit 5 Schools, just up the road in Normal. It decided to move forward with plans to build a new high school on the city’s West side, in 1991. At the time, the bond referendum for the 200,000 square foot project was a cool $26 million.
The school opened in 1995, on time and under budget, and additions have been discussed in the past eight years.
Undoubtedly, the Champaign Unit 4 facility referendum will return to the ballot in April. It may be a very different race as terms are expiring for five of the seven school board members.
Although it was 20 years ago, there is still a lot to be learned from the Normal example; for one thing, how the district and school board responded to constructive criticism from voters ultimately helped get the referendum to pass.
Tuesday’s election was nothing more than a litmus test to check the temperature of city of Champaign voters. Let’s check that off the list – and get down to business.
What do you think? Join the discussion in the comments!
Laura Weisskopf Bleill is the Mom-in-Chief of chambanamoms.com. You can reach her at laura@chambanamoms.com or on Twitter at @chambanalaura or @chambanamoms.