The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
In the most recent article submitted to the paper, I indicated that the next communication in this series would address some of the specifics associated with Unit District Conversion.
Tax rates, school board membership, existing district debt and reduction in force, or also assignment of district personnel, would be the topics of the current article.
Of these items, I will begin with, and possibly utilize most of this writing addressing tax rates. As a refresher, Conversion occurs when two or more Unit Districts made up of grades K-12, converge to form separate High School district and the original unit districts are converted to new separate Elementary Districts.
This creates what is referred to as a Dual District system. As indicated in school code, the main advantages to such action are the establishment of a larger enrollment high school, while at the same time maintaining local control of the original elementary school.
Seventeen separate tax levies are available to Illinois' school districts. Most districts use only a portion of these levies, as some are very specific in their uses. For our purposes of comparing the potential tax rates that would result from converging unit districts, I will address the major district funds that receive revenue from local property taxes.
The major funds include Education, Operations and Maintenance, and Transportation.
This information is most easily presented in a table format, but I will try to present it here in as clear and brief a manner as possible.
In the Education Fund, Unit Districts may, without a referendum, levy a maximum rate of 1.84, and with a referendum levy up to 4.00.
A High School district may, without referendum, levy a maximum rate of one half of the 1.84, or 0.92, and with a referendum up to 3.50. The same limits apply to an Elementary District, 0.92 and 3.50 with a referendum. La Harpe's Unit District current maximum rate limit in the Education Fund is 2.00.
The maximum rate limit in the Operations and Maintenance Fund for a Unit District is 0.50, and up to 0.75 with a referendum.
A High School district may levy a maximum of 0.25, and up to 0.55 with a referendum.
The same rates are applicable for an Elementary district. La Harpe currently levies 0.375 in Operations and Maintenance, but plans to levy at 0.50 in 2003.
Unit districts may levy a maximum of 0.20 in the Transportation Fund.
For High School and Elementary districts the maximum is 0.12 for each district. With a referendum the maximum levy for all three types of districts is on an "as needed" basis.
The rate limit for all three types of districts is the same for the Working Cash Fund, at 0.05.
Tax levies for a High School district are under the control of the Board of Education for the single High School district, while tax levies for the Elementary districts are under the control of each of the separate Elementary districts (original unit districts).
Tax rate increases are under the control of the residents of the High School district and rate increases at the Elementary district level are voted on only by the residents of each individual Elementary district.
At this time, I will just touch briefly on the remaining three topics. School Board membership for a new high school district (7-member board) is determined by the intergovernmental agreement between the unit districts entering into the convergence.
Possible options are specified numbers of members from the original districts, at large membership, membership by precincts, or other combinations of these options.
When utilizing the convergence reorganization option, the existing debt of a unit district is generally considered to be retained by the elementary district formed by the reorganization.
The debt limits may, however, be distributed among the dual districts, thus allowing the elementary district to maintain some of its borrowing power.
One of the rationales given for forming a larger high school district is the ability of a larger district to provide at least the same services for its students, while utilizing fewer numbers of staff. The process for determining the expected reductions in staff during a unit district conversion is delineated in the School Code.
The basic criteria applied to the process are (1) the number of years of continued contractual service in a district (generally referred to as tenure) and (2) the grade level to which the staff member was assigned in their original district. A third category of teachers, those not clearly assigned to either the high school or elementary are provided the option to request which district they prefer to work under.
There is clearly a great deal more that I could discuss regarding the process of unit district convergence.
I expect that topics of forthcoming articles in this series of communications will have been discussed at our December 8th meeting of the La Harpe Board of Education and if necessary will proceed with additional articles as directed by the Board.
My hope is that they are at least somewhat informative and provide a basis for discussion of the topic of district reorganization among members of our school community.
A survey of district residents regarding this topic is still planned, and will probably be followed up by a community meeting in the La Harpe district. Please contact our unit office at 217/659-7739 with your questions, comments or concerns.