SD113A Superintendent Anthony McConnell

Mr. McConnell had a family emergency on the night of our Annual Meeting. He was set to speak, but missed. Here is what he sent us after.....

Thank you.  My apologies again for jumping on so late. I appreciate your understanding.  Tonight I was going to speak very briefly for the Board about the District's recent referendum.  Below is a summary of my remarks that I prepared. I would be happy to answer any questions from your HOA on the topic or if the question is placed on the ballot for April to organize a Q and A just with your group.  

Best 
Anthony

As many of you know District 113A recently had a referendum question on the ballot for the November 3 general election.  While the referendum ultimately did not pass we are encouraged by the strong support it garnered.  The District has worked with the community to address a variety of needs that have arisen through various input processes such as community forums.  In short, the District's lack of space is resulting in class sizes that are some of the highest in the state.  The District proposed an increase of .29 cent in the limiting rate in order to generate an additional 3.5 million dollars a year to address these needs.  The additional funding would have been used to reopen Central school to create more space and for the operating costs associated with that.  In addition, we would hire additional teachers to reduce class sizes and look at bringing in new programs such as full day kindergarten.  

The District's needs still remain and we are committed to the solutions that we have proposed.   One possibility to put the question out to the community again at the consolidated election on April 6.  Over the next several weeks we will be working to take a look at what additional questions we can answer from the community and what further clarity we can provide on our proposed solutions.