Parents frustrated of closing school despite passed tax measure
COLLINSVILLE, Ill. – Parents of the Collinsville School District Unit 10 say they voted for a tax measure thinking it would improve their schools, but rather got the raw deal.
Jefferson Elementary School was on the brink of closing when the tax measure passed. Erica Koester is one of many angry parents.
“My problem is that we were encouraged by weekly emails to vote for a zero ballot rate change that would funnel existing money back into the school. The school that we go to is now being closed,” she said. “So, we were encouraged to vote on our taxes to have this reallocated to maintenance and operations for a school that they’re now closing.”
However, Mark Skertich, the Collinsville School District superintendent, called it a harsh reality.
“There’s a lot of raw emotion with this possible closing of the school…but the harsh reality of it right now is that kindergarten enrollment started in early April and we’re seeing single-digit number within two schools. That’s when a plan was initiated, rather quickly, to see what our steps could be for the next year and put those before the board,” Skertich said.
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The elementary school was even slated to receive some of the new spending money for things like security and painting.
According to the superintendent, it would’ve cost $1 to $2 million to make ADA-standard upgrades. Officials claim they didn’t think of closing the school until after the vote.
“Quite frankly, we were not even having that conversation, not until we saw kindergarten enrollment…we knew our numbers were low…that’s a challenge we have to move on and make a decision on how to move forward,” Slertich said.
This week, it was decided to officially close Jefferson Elementary, and parents are not happy.
“If we have funds, why aren’t we using it? And if the building is going to sit there empty, you’re still paying to maintain,” Koester said.
Students and teachers will be transferred to other locations in the district.
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