CHAMPAIGN — Champaign Unit 4 School District has used trailers to temporarily add space at Jefferson Middle School for 25 years.
The school board is putting a question to voters in a ballot referendum – do they support the school district selling bonds to solve that and other facility problems?
Board president Tony Bruno said the old middle schools are just getting older.
“It’s a tough position to take that we want the best quality education – each individual pupil deserves it – but I’m not willing to pay for it,” he said. “I think we owe it to the kids to give them what they need.”
All board members voted Monday to approve putting a $192-million bond referendum on the November ballot.
Board member Betsy Holder said she may vote against the referendum, because she said it is not a good economy for selling bonds. She also said she wants the new superintendent, Geovanny Ponce, to spend more time considering the plan.
The bond sale would not raise taxes. But if the district did not sell bonds, taxes would go down next year about $66 dollars for each $100,000 that a house is worth, according to the district’s financial consultant.
If voters do approve, the district would renovate International Prep Academy and Jefferson Middle School. Franklin STEAM Academy would be completely rebuilt, and Unit 4 would build a new middle school somewhere.
The school district would also make some state-required health changes to Garden Hills Academy and update schools as recommended in a recent audit of its services for students with disabilities.
Some changes to IPA are also required by the state for health and safety reasons, and school board members felt it was better to level the old part of the school at the same time. Unit 4 would construct an addition to the new IPA building in its place.
Where would a new middle school be located?
Board member Grace Kang wanted to make sure the placement of the school would not increase student racial and economic segregation.
“If this new middle school were perhaps to be on the south end of town, and obviously we have Franklin on the north end, how would we ensure that the new school would not promote segregation to ensure equitable and diverse populations would be a priority in our district?” she asked.
Superintendent Geovanny Ponce responded that his team would use Unit 4’s current “schools of choice” model. Families rank where they want their kids to go to school, and the district tries to keep schools diverse as it assigns the locations.
School board member Christy Arnold added that even if Unit 4 builds the fourth middle school in its southern neighborhoods, the district is planning to entirely rebuild Franklin STEAM Academy on the northern side – so each area would get a brand new middle school.
Champaign’s majority-minority neighborhoods are on the north side of town. The city’s low-income neighborhoods are in the same region, according to the city’s 2022 Community Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint.