Will County Gazette

The Beecher Community School District 200U Board of Education took public comments at its March 13 meeting and discussed a referendum the district issued proposing an increase to the limiting tax rate in order to make up for an expected $5.3 million budget deficit the district faces.

The referendum goes back more than a year, when the board voted to add the referendum to the June 2022 ballot, according to a post on the district website. The district has revamped the referendum efforts in the past few months, posting several curated videos to inform parents and community members about the state of the district’s budget and how the tax hike would affect them.

According to the website, the district has a structural deficient, "only receiving 64% of the funding needed to adequately educate students," the site stated.

"I think that we all realize that the youth are the future," board president Julie Papas said, adding that she had lived in the community all her life, "and my mom herself taught in Beecher... And she invested in the future of the kids and she put her legacy down there, just as many teachers have done and will do. And the people that work in this district keep this town together. And I'm so thankful for the people that we have and and hope to retain quality staff. And one thing ... I'd like to speak on as a parent is how important it is that we retain quality staff. And that's one thing that could be affected in a referendum." 

Papas noted that the budget shortage made giving the proper services to the community much more difficult.

"The other thing is that our cohesiveness as a community also comes from the schools," she said. "It comes from the happiness in the children, the coming together for fine arts, for music, for sports, for academic celebrations. And when you are only functioning or ... receiving funding at 64% and you can only function that at 64%, that looks a lot different."

Superintendent Jack Gaham explained that a major portion of the $5.3 million deficit is caused by a proposed HVAC project, which amounts to $4 million. If the district did not do the project, the deficit would drop to around $1.3 million. Gaham has repeatedly said the district needs $1 million to smooth out its budget, adding the deficit came about because the district did not raise the tax levy in 2016 and 2018, combined with recent spending efforts for staffing and curriculum, creating new positions in the district, and the impact of inflation, Gaham said.

Several members of the community offered their thoughts on the referendum, with Papas speaking both as community member and a parent. Other residents said that an improved district would increase property values, meaning the increased taxes could "pay for themselves" over time. Others called the videos produced about the deficit "condescending," and complained about the district allowing a million dollar overspend to happen in the first place and without explanation.