2008 Woodie Awards
Illini Media
WPGU
buzz
Illio
TechnographArea voters to consider school bond
Referendum promises Unit 4 $65 million to fund three new schools
By Kalari Girtley
Posted: 3/6/06 Section: News
In the Monday, March 6 edition of The Daily Illini, the story "Area voters to consider school bond" incorrectly states that 3,000 new students will enter the school district in the next five years. It should have read that 3,000 new homes are expected to be built during the next five years.
The power will rest in voters' hands on March 21. An election will decide whether Unit 4 schools will benefit from an estimated $65 million bond that will assist with the improvements of more than half of their elementary schools and one high school.
A group of 40 community leaders and parents developed a referendum that will be on March's ballot. This referendum is set to bring needed improvements to seven elementary schools and rebuild Dr. Howard Elementary School. Along with these improvements, the referendum is set to open three new elementary schools, and fund a 60-acre site for Central High School to use.
Gene Logas, chief financial officer of the Unit 4 schools, said that if the referendum is approved, it would bring needed space to the schools.
"We have English as a second language being taught in the hallway, and right next to that person is the speech teacher," Logas said.
He said this referendum is a response to the rapid growth that Champaign is experiencing. There will be an estimated 3,000 new students coming into the school system in the next five years, Logas said.
Phillip Van Ness, co-chair of the Unit 4 Excellence committee, said this referendum is going to be hard to pass because many people do not trust the district.
"People have the right to be skeptical because for the last few years, we have not always kept our word," Van Ness said.
He said in the past, the district had told the public that they had a surplus of funds, but was actually in a deficit.
One of the major aspects of this referendum is the rebuilding of Dr. Howard elementary. Van Ness said the school was built in 1910 and does not comply with ADA requirements.
The power will rest in voters' hands on March 21. An election will decide whether Unit 4 schools will benefit from an estimated $65 million bond that will assist with the improvements of more than half of their elementary schools and one high school.
A group of 40 community leaders and parents developed a referendum that will be on March's ballot. This referendum is set to bring needed improvements to seven elementary schools and rebuild Dr. Howard Elementary School. Along with these improvements, the referendum is set to open three new elementary schools, and fund a 60-acre site for Central High School to use.
Gene Logas, chief financial officer of the Unit 4 schools, said that if the referendum is approved, it would bring needed space to the schools.
"We have English as a second language being taught in the hallway, and right next to that person is the speech teacher," Logas said.
He said this referendum is a response to the rapid growth that Champaign is experiencing. There will be an estimated 3,000 new students coming into the school system in the next five years, Logas said.
Phillip Van Ness, co-chair of the Unit 4 Excellence committee, said this referendum is going to be hard to pass because many people do not trust the district.
"People have the right to be skeptical because for the last few years, we have not always kept our word," Van Ness said.
He said in the past, the district had told the public that they had a surplus of funds, but was actually in a deficit.
One of the major aspects of this referendum is the rebuilding of Dr. Howard elementary. Van Ness said the school was built in 1910 and does not comply with ADA requirements.
The Daily Illini encourages on-topic discussion through article commenting on its articles and blogs. It is our policy not to delete any comments based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.
The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Comments containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from commenting on DailyIllini.com.
If you feel any post meets these conditions or merits review, please e-mail our editors at meonline@dailyillini.com.