Working together, we’ve put Community Unit School District 200 on a positive path forward that inspires in everyone a passion to excel.

In CUSD200, we strive for excellence. With a special focus on learning acceleration, we’ve significantly expanded our programming based on our Portrait of a Graduate, nearly quadrupled dual credit opportunities, and continued to develop our innovative Career Pathways Program all in an effort to inspire, educate, challenge and support all students to reach their highest level of learning and personal development.

As a result of this collaborative work, our students achieve high levels of academic success in one of the best-ranked school districts in the entire state of Illinois. While students in most districts have reported learning loss across the country as a result of the pandemic, students in CUSD200 achieved gains and are now substantially above learning pre-pandemic. Thanks to the hard work of our teachers and staff, the sacrifices of our parents, and the flexibility and determination of our students, CUSD200 has shown strong academic gains in reading and math for four consecutive years.

We’ve achieved this while staying true to our district’s commitment to fiscal conservatism. We continue to spend less per student than the state average by minimizing administrative expenses and focusing funding on our classrooms. By responsibly paying down debt, we’ve saved taxpayers over $10 million while reducing taxes, maintaining our position as the 3rd lowest tax rate among our benchmark districts. We even abated a $2 million surplus back to taxpayers in 2023.

Since 2017, we’ve worked diligently to catch up on our district’s significant infrastructure needs, investing at least $7 million per year into capital facilities projects. We have completed much of the work needed in our elementary and high school spaces.

Now, we need to address the significant needs at three of our four middle schools: Franklin, Monroe, and Edison. In these aging 1950s and 1960s buildings, learning spaces weren’t developed to support 21st Century learning. Sight lines in some hallways are limited, making it difficult to supervise students, and camera systems and door entry systems need to be updated. The science labs are too small and outdated and music rooms don’t have enough space or sound barriers. Out-of-date mechanical systems increase costs, create inconsistent temperatures throughout the buildings, and in some locations are so loud they disrupt learning. Some floors are so old they can no longer be waxed and are splintering. The locker rooms and bathrooms are original to the buildings. And all three schools need upgrades to be fully accessible for those who use walkers or wheelchairs.

As a community, we worked together throughout 2023 and 2024 to determine a plan for addressing these significant infrastructure needs at our middle schools and complete the decade-long effort to put our district on a sustainable path forward with safe, efficient, and up-to- date buildings. Nearly 1,300 community members took part in this process to develop a consensus middle school facilities plan.

Now, because of our district’s fiscal responsibility, we have a unique opportunity to implement the community’s plan to modernize our middle schools while giving our taxpayers even more property tax relief. As the district has diligently paid off old debt, we are able to re-issue a portion of that debt amount to complete the effort to update our middle schools while letting the remainder fall off, reducing the Bond and Interest Fund tax rate for our residents. In addition, the district will be paying these bonds off in just 15 years, saving our taxpayers up to $85 million in interest compared to longer financing options.

The community’s plan will now appear on our ballots in the November 5th election for final approval. This $151.5 million referendum would result in an average tax decrease of $71 per year in the bond and interest fund for the average district homeowner. If approved by the community, it would:

● Improve Safety & Security in Our Middle Schools

● Ensure Healthy & Accessible Buildings for All Students

● Provide Our Middle Schoolers 21 st Century Learning Environments

The referendum will improve safety & security in Franklin, Monroe, and Edison Middle Schools. This will ensure a more secure environment for students and teachers including improved sight lines in hallways, upgraded camera systems, and updated door entry systems.

The referendum will significantly improve our middle school infrastructure, mechanicals, and accessibility. This includes safer, updated, and more energy efficient school buildings through investments in infrastructure and mechanicals, including roofing, electrical systems, fire alarm systems, plumbing, HVAC units, lighting, ceilings, flooring, and finishings. It also includes more accessible buildings to increase ADA compliance and improve safety for students.

The referendum will also improve learning environments for our middle schoolers, better supporting today’s and tomorrow’s curriculum, optimizing hands-on learning, and further improving student outcomes. This includes modernized science lab classrooms with more space and improved features and furniture. It also includes increased space in some classrooms that are too small as well as optimized and dedicated spaces for co-curricular classes such as STEM and elective courses. It optimizes special education spaces to provide more support and life skill instruction for students. And it renovates and improves music spaces, library learning centers, indoor athletic spaces, and student wellness spaces.

This community-driven plan to modernize our middle schools would provide safer and more secure buildings with learning spaces that support the rigorous curriculum our community expects and deserves. It would build pride in our middle school buildings. It would bring parity to our four middle schools, giving all students the same quality learning opportunities. It could also provide welcoming spaces for the community. And all this can be accomplished without a tax increase—in fact, with a reduction in our Bond and Interest Fund tax rate, for the third time in five years.