
At the crossroads of transparency and distrust in general, but especially of those in authority positions is where we find ourselves in late 2024. Mix in a little social media to light a hearsay flame, substitute messenger services for a gust of wind, and soon you’ll find yourself in the midst of a full-blown wildfire of “what the heck is going on?”. It all culminated in a public hearing at NCOE’s school board meeting Wednesday evening.
On November 26, published in the Southern Illinoisan, NCOE School Board Unit 3 posted their intention to sell bonds amounting to not more than $3.2 million for working cash. It took days for someone to sniff it out and come to the conclusion that the school board was trying to slip a fast one past the community.
On Monday, a handful of concerned citizens showed up for a public hearing prior to the regularly scheduled school board meeting to pepper leaders with questions surrounding the action. The questions dealing specifically with funding were met with explanations of the complicated ways school districts are funded, the reasons those mechanisms were utilized, and reassurances that the money the board was looking to secure would in fact be used for buildings and improvements that must be made within the next 10 years. There has been some unrest over the past year and a half with regards to the impending closure of Booth School and subsequent mistrust that leaders intended to put money they could’ve put into that school into an expansion of NCO. Leaders say that’s simply not the case and have prioritized the work needing to be done with meeting Health/Life/Safety concerns that have to be addressed within the next decade. Among those priorities are abating asbestos, sidewalks, and doors. Beyond that, the science lab at the high school is original, as in 1949 original, and desperately needs updating. The district needs new buses as well.
Read more on past stories at:
https://www.wrul.com/local-news/booth-officially-shuttered-at-thursday-school-board-meeting
There were also alarms about transparency and only issuing the bond measure legal notice in a Carbondale newspaper. Superintendent Matt Vollman said the company in charge of the bonding suggested they only issue it to that newspaper leading to questions as to why they wouldn’t want locals to know by way of issuing information to the local online news publication or WROY/WRUL.
No decision was made Wednesday night as it was simply a public hearing. A petition to put the bond on the April 1st ballot is circulating which could provide a hitch in the bond selling’s giddy-up. A person with knowledge of the petition says they’re still about 100 signatures short with a deadline of next Thursday, December 26th. That petition is to put the question on the ballot rather than allowing the school board to make the call. If the signature threshold is met, it would prevent the school board from making the call and give voters the say.
Vollman says the school district has been selling bonds since 1990. Since 1998, the school district’s tax rate has gone down save for one year (2022) from 3.474 to a 2024 proposed 3.05. Only Hardin County, Pope County, and Carmi – White County have lower tax rates in the region with some including Gallatin County, Harrisburg, Carrier Mills, Grayville, and Galatia over 4.
There was also discussion on consolidation into the future prospect of a single White County school district which the NCOE school board is vehemently opposed to.
In regular session, the board did approve financing on some buses. There were no resignations and no new hires.