The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
by David Grimes for The Quill
LOMAX - It was a day for reflection, but not regret.
One day after Tuesday's election that saw a school reorganization measure fail in two of four school districts involved, proponents for the merger met to refresh and rethink.
A four-high school convergence question was put to voters in the LaHarpe, Nauvoo-Colusa, Dallas City and Carthage school districts this week, along with companion questions about bond financing for a new high school building and even approving the bond and school building project if construction could be postponed for up to three years.
The convergence issue was approved at LaHarpe by a 2-to-1 margin, but failed at Nauvoo-Colusa by a 3-to-1 margin as well as at Carthage, although district voters there failed to pass the measure by a count of 566 for and 778 against.
Preliminary ballot counts Tuesday night and early Wednesday pointed to defeat of the proposal in the Dallas City school district, but when votes from a portion of district voters in Henderson County were factored in, voters from Dallas did approve the school reorganization, 330 to 315.
Carthage Superintendent Dan James said he was disappointed in the way the vote count broke down because, "It's what would have been best for the boys and girls."
But James was impressed with how the voting went in the LaHarpe school district.
Three years ago, in another school reorganization - a four-district K-through-12 consolidation proposal that involved LaHarpe, Northwest, Colchester and Roseville schools - LaHarpe voters left no doubt they wanted no part in the four-way consolidation.
"LaHarpe voted it down solidly," James said. "But they voted 2-to-1 (for the four-way high school convergence) this time."
The general consensus among school reorganization advocates is that mergers may be a slow sell, but the more desperate a district's situation becomes - state and federal funding continues to tighten and student enrollment to decline - the more district voters digest information regarding school funding.
And while no district wants to face a budget that operates in the red and may land them on the state's financial watch list, more small school districts are doing just that.
"LaHarpe is at the same place where Northwest and Colchester were three years ago (when the consolidation proposition went to the voters)," LaHarpe Superintendent Jo Campbell said.
Marvin Boyer, co-chairman for the Committee of 10 that fleshed out the pros and cons of the proposed new North Hancock High School, said he believes the referendum did not pass for a number of reasons.
Boyer pointed to cumbersome, legal verbiage with respect to the wording in the three advisory questions on the ballot and added that no where on the ballot did the word "convergence" appear.
"It was never used," he said.
And then there was the uncertain issue of the money.
Although application was made early last year for funding for the building project from the state's Capital Development Board and the district's involved put on the waiting list for CDB allotments for 2005, word never was received by the state board of education to notify the convergence group that they had been granted the entitlement.
CDB dollars would have provided about half the cost of the new school's estimated $18 million construction.
Although Boyer said he believes the CDB money would be forthcoming eventually, cash in hand is a better sell.
The Committee of 10 will not officially convene again until after April 20. The school boards of the four districts involved must canvass the April 5 votes within 21 days.
Following that, the committee will meet with those school boards to make a recommendation to either continue making a case for the high school merger or to pursue other options.
"The boards will have to sift through all of this and decide for themselves," Boyer said.