Passing of referendum represents a vote for education in Highland IL school district

Highland will get to build its new school, after a $40 million construction bond referendum passed in the election Tuesday, June 28.

The proposition to issue $40 million in school construction bonds passed with 1,673 to 1,482 votes, or 53% to 47%.

The campaign to convince voters began several months ago, as Highland CUSD No. 5 Superintendent Mike Sutton met with community groups throughout the area to answer questions about the proposal. Sutton said he was proud of the community and the support it continues to extend to the school district.

“I think there’s a lot of pride in the district — especially throughout the pandemic and the priorities we set to keep kids in school,” Sutton said.

The plan to add an elementary school and expand the middle school goes back to October 2018, when the district did a comprehensive study of space use and formed a group of 50-60 staff, teachers, community members, business owners and parents to make recommendations. After a long pandemic delay, District 5 opted to go forward with selling bonds to construct a new primary school and expand the middle school, among other priorities.

The highest priority is Highland Primary School, where children and staff are under three different roofs moving back and forth across a parking lot throughout the day. The new school will be on the south side of town on land already purchased with donated funds. Sutton said the new school will address the safety and security issues presented by the current situation.

The second priority is a nine-classroom addition to Highland Middle School, and the third priority is a second gym at the high school, which Sutton has said is dependent on the funds available and the bids that come in.

Sutton also argued that while times are tight due to inflation and pandemic issues, low interest rates make this a good time to issue bonds. The construction bonds will be replacing the existing bonds set to retire over the next three or four years, so that the tax rate for property owners will remain the same.

District 5 also has approximately $2 million in COVID relief funds from the federal government, which will further reduce the taxpayers’ burden, Sutton said.

Sutton said they will immediately begin the design phase of the primary and middle school projects and go out to bid as soon as possible.

“Once bids are received, we should get a pretty good idea where we stand,” he said. “Worst case scenario is we have to reject the bids and delay the projects for a period of time to see if costs come down.”

However, Sutton said, at the moment interest rates are “still reasonable” and that there are significant savings with each quarter of a percent.

“I look forward to seeing these projects through and seeing the tremendous impact they have on our students, staff and community,” Sutton said.