Elementary School District Consolidation Study Community Event

Elementary School District Consolidation Study Community Event

School Consolidation Study_green yellow

Location

Lake Park High School East Campus, Dice Auditorium
600 S Medinah Road
Roselle Illinois 60172
Illinois US
Tuesday, February 13, 2024 - 7:00pm
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 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). We will share the results of that study at a community education event on Tuesday, February 13, 2024, at 7:00 pm at Lake Park East Auditorium. This event is free and open to the public. Attendees do not need to become League members to attend.

We will present the final study to the community and host a panel of experts who can answer questions from the audience.  The event features Donna Limper, Issues and Advocacy Specialist and Lead Author of the study who will deliver a 25-minute presentation summarizing the key findings of the study. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session fielded by a panel of experts:

  • Annie McGowan, Deputy Director of Research, Civic Federation 

  • Dr. William Phillips of Midwest School Consultants 

  • Jack Bentley, Executive Director and Community Lawyer, Citizen Advocacy Center 

Following the program, the League encourages citizens to contact their local elementary school board so they can voice their opinion on the wisdom of undertaking a formal study by a consolidation expert. The five districts would incur no cost to investigate reorganization because the State of Illinois would 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.

Set aside Tuesday, February 13th to learn more about this important topic and share your opinion about elementary school district consolidation.

For more information about the study, visit School District Consolidation Study