Funding Woes: District 67 At A Standstill

Negotiations between the Morton Grove Park District and Golf School District 67 are moving about as quickly as ice after the park district's initial offer to purchase Frank Hren Park, which it currently leases from the school district.

"A couple of months ago, we made an overture about purchasing it outright," said Brian Sullivan, director of the park district. Sullivan said an appraiser valued the property in the $1 million to $2 million range, a number that was extended to the school district. "We said, 'Here's the best we can do and still be fiscally sound.'" 

But that dollar amount was lower than what school administrators had hoped to get out of the property, so talks have frozen for now, he said.

"Right now it's on hold," Sullivan said, stressing that the interactions between the two boards have been completely amicable. "They're doing their due diligence. It's up to them and their time frame and their constraining issues."  

The school district chimed in, saying that it's just not in its best interest to sell.
"The board has no interest in selling the park," said Supt. Jamie Reilly. "They really enjoy having it for our kids, and this is really a terrible time to be selling real estate."

As Lean as Possible

Even if the park and school districts were able to come to an agreement, selling the park would not cure Golf's financial ails. The school district will almost certainly have to ask taxpayers for a referendum in the near future—a move they have not made since 1967.

When asked why the school district hasn't sought a referendum in nearly 45 years, Reilly said previous boards didn't want to add weight to the already hefty financial yoke on taxpayers' shoulders.

"They were trying to be as lean as possible before going out to the taxpayer, because they know it's a tough time for everybody," Reilly said. "They even considered cross-district consolidation. Understandably so, I don't think the other districts were interested in our finances or our facilities." 

Until this spring, the district had considered selling Golf Middle School to a car dealership and consolidating its students into a renovated Hynes Elementary campus. however, by the realization that the school district's partnership with the Morton Grove Park District may prohibit them from selling the land to a dealership. The district owns the land upon which Frank Hren Park sits, but a grant the park district accepted from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources prohibits the land from being used for anything other than recreation for another 20 years.

"Our attorneys are looking into it," Reilly said. "But if that is truly off the table because of something beyond our control, it doesn't take away our need for improving our facilities or increasing our operating funds." 

It was this twist that spurred the park district to try to help Golf 67 by offering to buy the land itself, but school district officials have been silent for the past couple of months since the park district first floated a number.

A Tense Issue

Opinions diverge about what the school district should do. Even before the recent developments with the park district, Renate Toth, who has children in the fourth and seventh grades, wanted to see the Board of Education set aside any hopes of making external land deals and push ahead with a referendum.

"They need to concentrate all their efforts on convincing the public it's time to step up and pay a little bit extra and put our school into a solid financial position," Toth said. "They haven't been asked in all this time, and they've benefited hugely from our achievement levels. If they want to continue to do that, it's a tax increase. Sometimes you have to rip off the band-aid and bite the bullet."

However, she praised the school district for being willing to have a public dialogue about its financial situation.

"I have to credit our school board a lot for having these open discussions," Toth said. "This is not always the way things have been done. I appreciate that a lot."

Continuing such a public dialogue is important to district officials, and Supt. Reilly said they'll invite community members to see the its facilities for themselves in July. She had no comment about whether this invitation is so residents can see the need for a referendum; instead, she said the district just wants as many opinions as possible.

"Really what we're doing is trying to gather lots of data to determine what our needs are moving forward," she said. "We want to get input from as many people as we can. Everyone in the community is a taxpayer, so we want to make sure we're meeting their needs too; they're concerned about the future values of their homes.

Supt. Reilly invited the public to come to open houses at Hynes Elementary (Tuesday, July 12 at 6 p.m.) and Golf Middle School (Thursday, July 14 at 6 p.m.) to weigh in on the district's next move. Stay tuned for tomorrow's in-depth look at how District 67 became the frog in the boiling pot.