The Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Board of Education discussed alternative spending cuts and the future of soon-to-close Kingsley Elementary School and Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies at its Monday meeting.
The district is in the process of completing Phase 3 of its Structural Deficit Reduction Plan, which aims to cut $16 million to $18 million from the district’s budget by fiscal year 2030. The district is targeting a $6.3 million budget reduction for the 2027 fiscal year.
During Monday’s meeting, board member Maria Opdycke presented a draft of her own plan, named “ELEVATE: Enhanced Learning Environments via Asset Transformation and Excellence,” to the board for suggestions. Opdycke outlined a strategy for the district to manage its capital assets in the long term based on the SDRP.
She said she devised her plan, which will be made publicly available, with the deficit in mind and while considering a reduction in enrollment and the declining quality of several buildings in the district.
“It builds on the work of SDRP, but shifts the conversation from fitting students into existing buildings, to asking a much larger question: What should a future-ready District 65 look like?” Opdycke said.
Like the SDRP, the plan would be split into phases. Phase one includes collecting feedback on the current SDRP process, and phase two would elicit input from the community on how to “reconfigure the district.” Board members would then analyze this feedback and encourage participants to present their ideas to the board in a public hearing.
The plan would involve architecture firm StudioGC, which wrote the district’s new Master Facilities Plan draft. The draft projects that the district will need to devote $598 million to facilities spending over the next 49 years. In the event that a building needs repairs, community members would need to vote for a referendum to pay for proposed changes.
“We cannot simply maintain the status quo, in that we do not currently have the resources to repair and sustain every building exactly as it exists today,” Opdycke said. “We must think creatively, strategically and honestly about how our physical assets can best serve our students and the community over the long term.”
In response to Opdycke’s plan, board member Sergio Hernandez said he believes administrators have already carried out many of the efforts it details.
The board has previously created smaller focus groups, resulting in updates to the Master Facilities Plan and other reports that helped to assess options for budget restructuring.
“It’s just us having to sit down and make the hard decisions,” Hernandez said. “I know, with the community, we’re going to get yelled at. There’s no easy way out.”
Board member Patricia S. Anderson suggested the board hold a meeting to “clarify our vision” about what values board members must bring when it comes to budget restructuring, and that this must precede any further action.
For example, she emphasized the importance of considering effects on special education services.
“Those are our students too, and we have to make sure that all of the students in District 65 have a place in this plan and have something that will help to elevate their educational experience,” Anderson said.
Stacy Beardsley, the district’s assistant superintendent of performance management and accountability, also discussed ideas about potential options with them for how to use the sites at both Kingsley and Bessie Rhodes, setting a tentative June 22 deadline for the board to arrive at a consensus on their futures.
She presented information about the responses of a survey and focus groups at Kingsley and Bessie Rhodes which will close this summer. Beardsley said she found community members desired timely and transparent decision-making in the process and recognized that the district may need to sell at least one of the properties.
She said they also expressed concern for how the property is used after the closures.
“It does give the board a challenge,” Beardsley said. “There is a degree of acceptance that at least one of these things will be sold, but there is a desire that was heard in these community engagement sessions that they’re sold for a community good.”
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Email: [email protected]
Related Stories:
— Evanston community offers differing visions of future for Kingsley school building
— Bessie Rhodes community members weigh options for building’s future
— D65 board elects Nichole Pinkard president, Chris Van Nostrand vice president
