Whether or not St. Anne’s two school districts will consolidate is going to be decided by voters in the March 19 election.
If a simple majority of voters in the territories of St. Anne Grade School District 256 and St. Anne Community High School District 302 vote “yes,” the two districts will become one beginning July 1, 2024.
“If it passes, it’s happening pretty quickly,” said Charles Stegall, superintendent of both districts.
There are about 500 students between the two districts.
Pembroke Community Consolidated District 259 participated in a consolidation feasibility study in 2020; however, the district declined to be part of the consolidation.
Students from both St. Anne Grade School and Lorenzo Smith School in Hopkins Park feed into SACHS.
About 15 people attended the first of three town hall meetings on Jan. 24 at St. Anne Grade School.
The next town hall meeting will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Lorenzo Smith School cafeteria. The final meeting will be at 5:30 p.m. March 12 in the SACHS cafeteria.
Stegall said he knows of only two instances of the same kind of consolidation happening in Illinois, and none have occurred in the recent past.
“Full disclosure, I’ve never done a consolidation issue before,” he said. “Consolidations don’t happen too often in the state of Illinois; quite frankly, they don’t happen too often anywhere.”
<strong>THE BALLOT QUESTION</strong>
Embedded into the ballot question are the proposed maximum tax levy rates for four funds.
“Those four funds are identified by statute that they have to be included in the question, and it has to be broken out [by] pre-K through 8 and 9 through 12 [grades],” Stegall explained.
The maximum combined tax levy rates would be: 4% for the education fund, 0.75% for the operations and maintenance fund, 0.25% for the transportation fund, and 0.8% for the special education fund.
On the same ballot, voters will be asked to elect new school board members, who would assume their offices July 1 if the referendum passes. Instead of 14 total members representing the separate grade school and high school districts, there would be seven members representing the combined K-12 district.
The new school board would determine the actual tax levy in November.
<strong>WHAT WILL CHANGE?</strong>
“Teachers, support staff, administration will likely not notice any significant change initially …” Stegall said. “As the new district begins to form through the years, some changes may occur, but it’s too early to pinpoint what those changes will be for certain.”
Some things will change immediately. The new district will receive a new name and district number. The two business offices will combine into one. The two teachers unions will merge into one with a new bargaining contract.
A recommendation from the feasibility study was to house eighth-grade students in the high school while allowing sixth-grade students to return to a more traditional elementary school model.
If that change occurs, the new school board would make the decision while gathering input from the community. Other districts with a similar junior/ senior high structure would be consulted.
“This would have to be a question for the new school board to consider in the coming years.”
<strong>CONCERNS FROM PEMBROKE</strong>
Pembroke District 259 would have the option to join the new consolidated district within five years; the voters of Pembroke would have to approve the measure at another election.
Hopkins Park Mayor Mark Hodge asked if Pembroke joining the new district would ultimately lead to the closure of Lorenzo Smith School.
Stegall said the closing of a school would be a decision made by the future district and board of education.
“I’m not in a position to try to speculate about what could happen,” he said. “That’s a real fear schools have. I understand that.”
Stegall noted there was a case in Lawrence County, Ill., where a small school district was encouraged to consolidate and their building ended up closing 10 to 15 years down the line.
“I don’t see how it could happen, from my standpoint, knowing the number of students that Lorenzo Smith School currently houses … But things could look different in 10 or 15 years.”
Stegall said he thinks it would be a great opportunity for collaboration if Pembroke were to join the consolidation; however, he understands it was not the right time and respects their decision.
When contacted by the Daily Journal, Pembroke Superintendent Nicole Terrell-Smith said the district is interested in maintaining its local control and possibly expanding its own school system in the future.
Other concerns are with the unknown financial implications and the proposed junior high/high school model.
“Pembroke has a very rich cultural history, and so they definitely, as with most other districts, want to retain their local control …” she said. “I do also know that the district would at some point like to consider expanding and bringing a high school to this community.”
<strong>POTENTIAL BENEFITS</strong>
Stegall said the St. Anne districts are already connected in some ways, for instance, sharing a superintendent and special education coordinator.
“There’s other aspects that are shared, but you still sometimes have brick walls that get thrown up and it becomes difficult when you have two separate districts,” he said.
The 2020 study predicted that a combined district would have a more aligned curriculum that could help to better prepare elementary students for high school.
Elementary students would have more opportunities to gain early entry into some of the high school’s extracurricular programs, such as art, music, band, physical education and computer courses.
A combined transportation system would likely be more efficient and affordable.
“The hope is that you could have buying power when you’re one [district],” he said.
According to the 2020 study, merging St. Anne school districts would result in an estimated $34,000 increase in evidence-based funding from the state.
“That never goes away,” he said. “It would be added there, and then each year, when there’s increases [in evidence-based funding], it’s on top of that.”
The new district would also receive an incentive of more than $1 million from the state to assist with reorganization, plus additional state payments to offset costs totaling $624,000.
It was also expected the merger could create savings of administrative and operational costs totaling $45,000.
Additionally, Stegall said that staff could see better rates for health insurance because of the larger pool of employees.
There may be more opportunities for teacher collaborations, attracting specialized teachers and staff, and creating more district-wide staffing flexibility.
<strong>STEPS TO GET HERE</strong>
In the 2019-20 school year, a consulting group conducted a consolidation feasibility study in collaboration with SAGS District 256, SACHS District 302 and Pembroke District 259.
The two St. Anne school boards revisited the issue in July 2022.
Stegall contacted Pembroke’s superintendent to inquire if the district was interested in consolidation.
“They [Pembroke] politely sent us a letter and said at this time, they’re not interested in consolidation,” he said.
A legislative waiver for the possible creation of an optional combined district was obtained in the spring of 2023.
The St. Anne grade school and high school boards approved resolutions affirming their intent to pursue consolidation in July and August of 2023, which were then submitted to the I-Kan Regional Office of Education.
The regional office <a href="https://www.daily-journal.com/news/st-anne-school-districts-looking-to-consolidate/article_2ec1ebe4-6e95-11ee-90b3-0b66865d6691.html" target="_blank">hosted a public hearing in October</a> regarding the possible consolidation.
In November, the state superintendent informed Stegall that the petition was accepted and the consolidation question may be placed on the March 19, 2024, ballot.
Stegall noted the question cannot be removed from the ballot at this stage.
“Honestly, that’s what you want, right?” he said. “You want your voters to have a say in how they want their schools to look or how they want their government to look.”
Voters will be asked to select “yes” or “no” to the following question:
“Shall an Optional Elementary Unit School District be created in the territory comprising St. Anne Community Consolidated District No. 256 and St. Anne Community High School District No. 302, Kankakee County, State of Illinois, with the authority to levy taxes at the rate of: education fund, K-8, 2%, 9-12, 2%, combined maximum, 4%; operations and maintenance fund, K-8, 0.375%, 9-12, 0.375%, combined maximum, 0.75%; transportation fund, K-8, 0.125%, 9-12, 0.125%, combined maximum, 0.25%; special education fund, K-8, 0.4%, 9-12, 0.4%, combined maximum, 0.8%, each upon all of the taxable property of the district at the value thereof as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue, be established?”