Voters accept one Oak Park school bond, reject another

Oak Park voters showed mixed feelings towards the dual bond measures, B6 and C6, placed on Tuesday's ballot.

In a district that historically has demonstrated strong support for educational financing, only one measure received enough votes to pass.

Measure C6, which required 55 percent voter approval, received 1279 "yes" votes and passed with 58.2 percent.

Measure B6, which also received 58.2 percent, failed to pass because it required a two-thirds voter approval.

Both bonds would have raised $106 million for the Oak Park Unified School District. Combined with $9 million in state funds, the bonds were to pay for the $115 million Facilities Master Plan, a seven year project that would update all six campuses within the Oak Park district.

"I'm obviously disappointed (that B6 failed), and we'll have to do an autopsy on the campaign to fully understand what happened," said Jim Kalember, president of the Oak Park Unified School District School Board.

The school board has the authority to reintroduce the failed measure on November's ballot.

Measure C6, the one that passed, will raise $17.5 million by levying a new tax of $24 per $100,000 of assessed private prop

erty valuation to pay for districtwide furnishings and technology improvements.

The work includes interactive whiteboards, projection systems, computers and wireless Internet access. The bond intends to keep technology current for the next 15 years.

Measure B6 was a tax rate extension on a prior bond measure. In 1978, Oak Park residents decided to create a separate school district and passed a $40 million bond. The original school bond received an approval rating of over 90 percent.

But most of the funds raised by the bond have been spent and only a few hundred thousand dollars remain.

The new measure would have raised $89 million and increased the rate that homeowners must pay from $140 to $174 per $100,000 of assessed value.

Even though the two bond measures received the same amount of votes, tax rate extensions require 67 percent approval, while new measures need just 55 percent. If B6 had passed, it would have been used to upgrade buildings and infrastructure throughout the district.