Already $25M Overbudget, D65 Board Decides To Downsize 5th Ward School

EVANSTON, IL — With projected construction costs running more than 62 percent overbudget before ground at the building site has even been broken, members of the Evanston/Skokie School District 65 this week opted to redesign a planned 5th Ward school by cutting its student capacity by 40 percent.

Instead of a three-story building with 1,000 students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade, board members directed the district's architectural consultants to draw up plans for a two-story building with 600 students only up to fifth grade.

Earlier this month, interim Superintendent Angel Turner notified the District 65 board that the cost for the 5th Ward school had risen to about $25 million higher than budgeted.

"In light of this new information, I believe it is critical that the Board understand the current impact of its March 2022 decision regarding the design and construction of the new school in the 5th Ward," Turner said.

The initial 5th Ward school plan, introduced by then-Superintendent Devon Horton and then-Chief Financial Officer Raphael Obafemi, proposed building a $40 million school without raising local property taxes, through the use of by issuing lease certificates.

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These certificates were to be funded by a projected $3.2 million annual savings resulting from reduced busing of Fifth Ward students to other schools. However, Turner's recent disclosure revealed that transportation savings would only amount to around $750,000 per year.

Former Chief Financial Officer Raphael Obafemi, who had previously told the board that the borrowing cost of the building would be covered by money saved on busing contracts, resigned at the end of August.

Turner took over the superintendent's position on an interim basis in July following the Horton's resignation, who was hired to lead schools in DeKalb County, Georgia, in April.

According to Turner, she was present at a meeting in May where the $65 million price tag was shared with administrators, the most senior of which apparently neglected to tell the board before their resignations.

"Because finances for the project were not my focus in my prior role," Turner told the board in her memo, "it was not clear to me at that time that the budget was significantly above the original estimate."

At the time of Horton's departure, the district's operating budget deficit was estimated at $4 million. On Monday, Turner said the district's financial situation had worsened since then.

"The finance team recognizes the need to right-size the district's operations as a primary means to stabilize fiscal operations," Turner said.

"The district incurred an operating deficit in excess of $7 million in FY23," she siad. "And the district will begin to pay over $3 million annually over the next 18 years in principal and interest due on the lease certificates from its operating budget, starting in FY25."

Plus, each of the district's 18 buildings faces capital costs ranging from $3 to $19 million over the course of the decade, and enrollment has fallen by more than 1,300 students over the past five years, the interim superintendent said.

Only one District 65 school building — Nichols Middle School — is at or above its capacity goal, and the district, overall, is at 68 percent of its capacity.

Currently at 6,397 students, enrollment in the district is projected to continue falling to about 5,000 students by the early 2030s, according to data presented during the meeting.

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"The reality is that we have had not had enough students or capital funds to justify 18 buildings in a long time. No matter what we do about a Fifth Ward school, we cannot ignore this reality any longer," said board member Biz Lindsay-Ryan. "It may seem counterintuitive that you would build a new school and consider closing others, but it is actually just necessary."

Lindsay-Ryan said redistricting while building a new school at the same time would avoid making piecemeal choices that limit the options for future decisions.

"We need buildings to be where the students are, and we need the buildings we have to be closer to their capacity and the number of students they serve," she said. "Past boards have chosen not to address this problem because it's difficult and unpopular and constituents will be angry."

As presented, reducing plans for the school to a two-story, K-5 option would reduce its cost to $44.1 million, with about $2.2 million of that cost attributable to the cost of the delay. Instead of a projected open date of the start of the 2024-25 school year, the earliest it could be finished would be January 2025.

There is also uncertainty over the future of the Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies remains uncertain, as plans for the 5th Ward school could affect the relocation of the Two-Way Immersion program.

Next up, district architectural consultants Cordogan Clark will be tasked with finalizing a new proposal with new designs, new budget and new approval from city officials.

District 65 board president Sergio Hernandez said Tuesday he felt like he was "between a rock and a hard place" when it comes to 5th Ward school plans.

"So it seems that every time that we try to build something in a community, right, in a Black or brown community, well, it's not the right time. It's never the right time. When when will be the right time?" Hernandez asked.

Hernandez said he remained committed to ensuring that the board holds up its end of the promise.

"I see as another form of reparations, right? This is educational reparations," he said.

"So let's not be that community again where we say, 'Oh well, you know now, it's just too much we can't invest,'" the board president said. "But it's just going to get more expensive, and we won't ever be able to be able to invest in in our Black and brown communities, and then that'll be the same old story, right?"