Return of the Oswego School District 308 referendum?

You could have seen this newsletter in your inbox last Tuesday, Oct. 8. How do you do it? Sign up for our free Kendall County Government Insider newsletter here.

Welcome to the Record Newspapers/Oswego Ledger Kendall County local government newsletter. Each Tuesday and Thursday, reporters Katie Finlon, Shea Lazansky and editor John Etheredge provide exclusive content and commentary on topics and issues involving Kendall County area governmental agencies and the communities they serve.

As predicted by several, but denied by many, it seems that Oswego School District 308 may be looking at another referendum.

During the OSD 308 Board of Education meeting Monday, Oct. 7, board members were presented with the district's five-year projections, as part of its yearly budgetary process.

As part of those projections, members were given two options for how to proceed.

Option A is to maintain current practices. This includes continuing to sell bonds for capital projects and technology, continuing to issue tax anticipation warrants, and the continuation of budget cuts and fee increases, a process that has affected students, teachers and administrators since 2016, to the tune of more than $14 million.

Option B is, to some, no better. Yes, it's the return of the operating fund referendum, the same one that was rejected by voters last April.

For those who don't remember, the operating referendum would be a $.30 operating rate increase, beginning in the 2021 tax collection year.

It would allow for $3 million annually to be used to address board priorities to support students and would reduce the tax anticipation warrant amount over time.

Most importantly though, if the board chooses the referendum and it passes, the budget cuts and fee increases adopted at the board's Feb. 25 meeting would be undone.

That means slashing the cost to high school athletics back to $150 per sport, reducing the cost of all activity and club fees at all grade levels to $20, bringing back junior high athletics, restoring summer school transportation, reducing the class size divisor to 25 for kindergarten through fifth grade, and reinstating the gifted education model for third grade students.

In other words, the biggest and most controversial budget cuts in recent years would go away if voters pass the referendum.

The options were presented to the board Monday, but not voted upon. So read up on the facts on the district's BoardDocs site. Inform yourselves of the options now before the board and everything they entail.

Because it's either a vote, or more of the same.