Updated on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 12:45 a.m. CT
Voters in the Champaign and Mahomet school districts appear to have backed two ballot measures that would use bonds to build new middle schools.
In both areas, existing middle schools are crowded. Both school districts would like to issue bonds, and both have figured out how to pay for the bonds without raising taxes.
That seems to have made a difference in Mahomet. This is Mahomet-Seymour CUSD #3’s fourth bond referendum in recent years. The previous three, which would have raised taxes, failed.
“Certainly the zero tax rate increase is a huge factor,” said Mahomet-Seymour Board of Education President Jordan Rock.
“But also after four years, I think people have become more understanding of the issue and not just the issue itself, but also understanding that it’s not going away unless we do something about it.”
As of early Wednesday morning, Champaign County’s unofficial results showed almost 70% of voters supported the Mahomet-Seymour referendum. About 64% of voters supported the Unit 4 referendum.
Speaking Tuesday night, Mahomet-Seymour Superintendent Kenny Lee said if the measure passes, the district would start looking for design firms and start the long process before construction.
The total cost would be $84 million, funded through bonds, the countywide sales tax and economic growth that is boosting existing tax revenue for the district.
The goal would be to open the new middle school in 2029.
Champaign voters support middle school construction
The Unit 4 school district said in a news release the referendum had passed as it celebrated the support from residents.
“We are grateful for the trust our community has placed in us. We recognize that this investment comes with tremendous responsibility. Our commitment is to honor that trust through transparency, accountability and meaningful community involvement as we move forward,” the district said.
Champaign Unit 4 asked voters to support the district issuing $192 million in bonds to pay for a new middle school, to rebuild some existing middle school buildings and pay for other repairs.
“I think that the early numbers reflect a community that had a chance to see what’s really going on and decided that they were going to do something about it,” said Unit 4 Board of Education President Tony Bruno.
Unit 4 held tours of the middle schools needing repairs this fall, after the board voted to put the bond referendum on the ballot.
“There weren’t many people who walked through those schools and left thinking that they were in good shape,” Bruno said.
Two of Unit 4’s three middle schools — Jefferson Middle School and Franklin STEAM Academy — are so overcrowded that trailers are being used as classrooms. In addition, the middle school building at the district’s Spanish-English bilingual school, International Prep Academy, has repairs that must be fixed by law.
Under the $192 million plan, Unit 4 would demolish and rebuild Franklin STEAM Academy and the IPA middle school building. The new IPA middle school would become an addition to the newer K-5 building on the site. The district would also renovate Jefferson Middle School.
In addition, Unit 4 would build an entirely new middle school.
The district would also make some repairs it is required to make by law to Garden Hills Academy.
Bruno said if the referendum does not pass, the board would have to address the most urgent needs first: the legally required repairs at IPA.
“That building has significant Health/Life Safety violations that must be addressed in the next few years. And so we would have to decide whether to put millions of dollars into that very old building or whether to evacuate the building and move those middle school students to other campuses and hope that a future referendum will pass,” Bruno said.
This referendum would not raise taxes. But if the referendum had not passed, taxes would have gone down unless the board raised funds through a smaller bond project without going to voters. Bruno said the board has the right to sell bonds to address Health/Life Safety repairs.
Under the referendum, the new middle school and new Franklin would open in the fall of 2029, according to Unit 4 spokesperson Carla Phelan-Erdey.