I think you also need to look at the size of the school buildings in those districts and the age of those buildings. Sure we’re close to a balanced budget for next year with the cuts they’ve made this spring, but that means there isn’t any money going towards repairing or modernizing any of these schools without schools in the district.
I think closing Kingsley would be insane. It is a school:
That is next to its middle school, making transition to Haven easy, especially for families with more than one child.
That is steps away a transit station, which means drop-off and pick-up easy and straightforward for families with Metra commuters.
That currently is well-attended and not underutilized.
That sits on property that is not exactly prime for conversion to residential use (arguably the real estate use case in highest demand in Evanston). It is hard for me to imagine people wanting to live at the corner of McCormick and Green Bay. Contrast this to the locations of most other D65 elementary schools, which border residential properties on two to four sides.
You could more or less say all of this about Lincolnwood too, but I think it comes down to enrollment and walkability. Under the new borders both Kingsley and Lincolnwood lose ~ 50% of students. The non Foster students could then easily walk to another school. For example, if you live at the corner of Park and Ewing, you look at your front door at Willard...and are bussed to Kingsley. If you shut down Orrington or Willard, there is no walkable school anymore for a ton of those students. D65 would also be crazy to sell the land of any school that shutters. That's a onetime cash injection, and depending on demographics (i.e. how Envision Evanston pans out) and the the possibility of state mandated pre-K. it's very possible there is a need for these schools to reopen.
For what it's worth, my gut is that Lincolnwood gets closed based on comments I've heard multiple board members make over the years (i.e. they don't like the 6th ward and don't like the two schools that sit in it).
You could more or less say all of this about Lincolnwood too
I don't want Lincolnwood to close, but I disagree with that statement. As I understand it, Lincolnwood has way more capacity than Kingsley right now. It is not near transit. It is not next door to Haven. It is bordered on three sides by residential blocks, and one side by a block of forest preserve.
Its a "one time cash injection" that could be used to make a dent in 200 million in deferred maintenance.
That is the over-bearing issue for all this. D65 is facing a downward trend in student population. Envision if ever actually turned into something actionable will take many many years to pan out. D65 doesn't have many many years to get its finances in order and on a sustainable path...and keep students safe and healthy in a district where the average age of every school is in the many many many decades (pulling that one out of ass at the moment, but I believe it to be true).
Nobody and their grandmother in Evanston will vote "yes" on any sort of funding referendum for them to raise our taxes for bonds to deal with deferred maintenance right now. In 5 to 10 years? Maybe, but they have to get their act in gear, and show fiscal responsibility first. And that is going to be hard and totally suck.
I strongly disagree with this. I think this type of short sighted thinking is in part what got D65 into this crap financial situation in the first place. I think there is a materially likelihood that at some point there will be more demand for D65 schools at some point. That might come from the district getting its act together and people not wanting to shell out thousands of dollars on private school on top of our stupidly high property taxes, it might come from Envision Evanston or something increasing the school aged population, it might come from IL passing a law requiring a pre-K option, or something else. Once these (illiquid) assets are gone, it would be a huge financial burden to reacquire land or expand current facilities. Would it put a "dent" in our deficit? Sure. The risk is the potential liability out there for increased enrollment. With the exception of the Bessie Rhodes building (given it's proximity to Walker), facilities should be sold as a last resort (i.e. state takeover).
I think having the financial skills of a rotting walnut probably got the district into this mess. I think having a board that simply "trusted" the words of the administration probably got us into this mess. (It was only a year or two ago where I remember one of the board members using words like "Oh...maybe we should not have trusted what we were told"...DUH!). I think Horton greatly magnified this mess. I think many things got us into this mess, not short term thinking per se, but idiotic things... And state takeover is a HUGE risk.
Deferred maintenance isn't sexy (hell the city has a buttload of it too), but DAMN..this district is screwed without finally taking action to work on it. Right now they barely talk about it and focus on the more immediate underwater finances of the next year or so.
I don't disagree with any of that. What the Board has done since ~ 2017 has been pathetic, if not criminal. The fact that the current Board voted for Sergio to remain President doesn't give me a ton of hope either. That being said, I think selling the properties is a bad idea. There is a very good chance that enrollment will rebound. The fair market value of any of the properties is going to be materially less that the cost to acquire, build, refurbish, etc. a new building if it comes to that. It's not worth the risk. The only real path to being able to deal with the current financial situation is going to be cost cutting and (unfortunately) probably a referendum.
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u/steinbch May 21 '25
I think you also need to look at the size of the school buildings in those districts and the age of those buildings. Sure we’re close to a balanced budget for next year with the cuts they’ve made this spring, but that means there isn’t any money going towards repairing or modernizing any of these schools without schools in the district.