Decreased government education funding, declining student populations, lagging achievement, growing expectations for academic offerings, costly accountability measures, and high property taxes compel us to question: Are we getting the most out of every education tax dollar?
The League of Women Voters of Roselle-Bloomingdale conducted a formal study in 2023-24 to answer that question and create our position on consolidating the five elementary school districts that feed Lake Park High School including Bloomingdale (SD 13), Itasca (SD 10), Keeneyville (SD 20), Medinah (SD 11), and Roselle (SD 12).
The League strongly encourages residents to urge their local elementary school board to undertake a study by a consolidation expert. The five districts would incur no cost to investigate reorganization because the State of Illinois will fund the full cost of the study.
Our year-long research of both benefits and considerations resulted in our taking a consensus position to guide our actions. The study is available for review and prompted the LWVRB to recommend that all five Lake Park High School feeder elementary school boards jointly commission an expert report to determine the financial impact of consolidating district administrations to redirect those high expenses to the classroom and perhaps provide some relief to property taxpayers. Our goal is to increase educational fiscal efficiency in a manner that advances academic outcomes for Lake Park High School community students and controls rising property taxes. In other words, control spending and invest money where it counts.
Documents:
Key Points Handout with QR Code
Video Slide Presentation (rerecorded with better sound quality)
Video of Presentation from Community Event (poor sound quality)
School District Consolidation Study
School District Consolidation Consensus Position
Public Comment to School Boards
Consolidation At a Glance Handout from the Illinois State Board of Education (May 2023)
Community Event
We shared the results of that study at a community education event on Tuesday, February 13, 2024. A panel of experts also answered audience questions. They were:
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Annie McGowan, Deputy Director of Research, Civic Federation
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Dr. William Phillips of Midwest School Consultants
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Jack Bentley, Executive Director and Community Lawyer, Citizen Advocacy Center
This event was free and open to the public. The video of this event is shared below in the list of documents however, the sound quality is poor. So we re-recorded the slide presentation.
The League of Women Voters of Roselle-Bloomingdale services parts of Cook and DuPage Counties including Bloomingdale, Glendale Heights, Hanover Park, Itasca, Medinah, and Roselle.
