Feb. 03--The School District U46 Board of Education got a first look at about $23.4 million in capital improvement projects proposed to be undertaken this summer.
The list includes mobile classroom demolition, a $4.9 million, 10 room addition and other items at Coleman Elementary, a $4 million, 10 room addition at Highland Elementary, and about $4.6 million worth of classroom additions and other jobs at Laurel Hill Elementary, according to documents posted on the district's website.
District chief operations officer Jeff King emphasized that the list and projects costs are "very fluid" at this stage.
"This document again will be updated for your observation at the next board meeting," he said.
The additions will help accommodate students affected by the new elementary school boundary changes that will go into effect this fall, but King emphasized that some of the price tags, such as that of Laurel Hill, also include several maintenance and equipment replacement projects.
Funding for the projects will come from qualified zone academy bond proceeds, the capital fund and the operations and maintenance fund, he said.
Some items may be split up over a few years as well, King said, but such questions will be sorted when the district's operating budget is sorted this year.
Ten projects that would have taken place over the next two years were axed from the list due to a lack of funding source, King said.
District CEO Tony Sanders last month withdrew from the meeting agenda a vote on a plan to apply for $50 million in low-to-zero-interest school construction bonds, where the federal government would have essentially subsidized the interest.
Board member Cody Holt said he did not know if he could support building additions given the district's extensive repair list.
But Sanders said the additions would have had to occur even without boundary changes and the plans to implement full-day Kindergarten across the district.
"There are no solutions in the Elgin area, with the number of students, without doing building additions or replacing mobile classrooms," he said.
Board member Jeanette Ward, a full-day Kindergarten opponent, questioned implementing new projects and programs without the required funding.
King said that even if "full-day K" wasn't in motion, these needs would remain.
"In Hanover Park, the east side of Elgin and the west side of Elgin, we don't have the classroom space," he said.
geoffz@tribpub.com
