Elementary school board members Bob Burke and David Casey listen to Superintendent Todd Prusator regarding the construction of a new school. (Photo by Todd Froemling)

ROCHELLE — The Rochelle Elementary District school board is talking about replacing Lincoln School again.

At Thursday night’s monthly meeting, District 231 Superintendent Todd Prusator revealed that Rochelle had received a grant entitlement letter from the Illinois State Board of Education approving its 2003 school construction application. District 231 is ranked 50th on Illinois’ priority list of 82 projects and could likely receive close to $4 million from the state – if not more – based on the projections of Green and Associates President George Reigle.

“I think everyone understands the need to replace Lincoln,” Prusator said, referring to the 101-year-old school. “We’ve been waiting a number of years for this opportunity to come, but do we want to take advantage now?”

Lengthy debate

That was a complicated question to answer and there was no definitive consensus among board members after an hour-long debate. Reigle and his associate, Jerry Guy estimated the price tag of a new K-5 building between $22-30 million, meaning District 231 would have to cover a cost of at least $18 million if other alternatives were not found. That was unsettling to some, since a referendum would have to be involved.

“You can’t go out in an economy like this and ask people to raise their taxes significantly,” trustee Steve Pfeiffer said. “The only way we’ll be able to sell this to our people is if we can bring [the cost down] and make it a very, very modest increase to our tax payers.”

District 231 would need to have its referendum proposition completed by August 16 in order to get it on the ballot in time for the November 2 election. Some board members expressed concerns over moving so fast, because the district would not likely have a concrete number for the state’s contribution to the project at that point.

“If we don’t have a firm number, I wouldn’t be inclined to go to referendum in November. I don’t think it has a chance of passing without a hard number,” trustee Bob Burke said.

Waiting until next April’s election has a different risk attached. Illinois currently has $250 million to help pay for school construction projects, but there’s no guarantee there will be funds available next year, given the state’s precarious financial situation. The priority list also will be updated, meaning Rochelle could lose its position.

“This is a one-time opportunity and everyone knows we need to replace a building,” Pfeiffer said. “But we need to work hard on our numbers. I was not expecting the price to be this high.”



For the complete article see the 07-18-2010 issue.

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