Willard School District places $30 million bond and 22-cent levy-transfer on April 8 ballot

Dr. Eric Wilkins, superintendent of the Willard School District, and Assistant Superintendent Kevin Shue told the Board of Aldermen on April 8 that the district will ask voters to approve two ballot questions on April 8, 2025: a $30,000,000 bond issue and a 22-cent levy transfer.

Shue opened the presentation by saying, “So question 1 is a $30,000,000 bond issue. Simple yes or no vote. Question 2 is a levy change. Yes or no vote.” He said Question 1 would fund a list of facility projects identified through a district planning process and Question 2 would move 22¢ from the debt service levy into the operating levy while keeping the overall levy unchanged.

The district described a 10-year facilities planning process that began in November 2023 with a roughly 25-person committee of board members, administrators, teachers, classified staff, community members and architects. The district said it collected about 800 survey responses in the initial open-ended survey and roughly 800 responses again to a May 2024 “support” survey that ranked projects the public would support in the next one to five years. Projects that rose to the top include safety and security upgrades, a storm shelter and a dedicated cafeteria/gym space at East Elementary, synthetic turf for athletic fields, and maintenance work targeted at the district’s oldest buildings (identified in the presentation as North, Intermediate North, the middle school and South Elementary).

Shue described the bond question as a no-tax-increase bond issue in which the ballot language lists the projects and costs. On the levy transfer, he said the proposal would shift 22¢ from the debt-service levy to the operating levy, freeing an estimated $1,200,000 for day-to-day operations while lowering the debt-service portion; he emphasized that the district’s overall levy rate would not change. “If you look at the operating column…we’re by far the lowest,” Shue said, adding that the district’s debt-service levy compares higher to nearby districts and that the transfer “just makes sense to move those 22¢ over.”

Board members asked whether the levy transfer would be used for teacher pay; Shue said it “will help” with personnel costs but did not promise specific salary increases and said the district has reduced staffing through attrition and faces the loss of COVID federal funding and declining enrollment. The presentation also noted the district’s financing plan contemplates the possibility of future bond issues during the next decade.

No formal board action on the ballot questions was recorded during the presentation; the item was presented to the board and audience as information ahead of the April 8 election.

Why it matters: If voters approve Question 1, the bond proceeds will fund capital improvements and maintenance across district buildings; if they approve Question 2, the district would shift tax capacity from debt service to operating without changing total tax rates, increasing available operating funds for staff and day-to-day needs.

The district did not provide a detailed line-item budget in the meeting; the presentation indicated the ballot language lists project costs but the board did not adopt or finalize project-level spending in this session.

Additional context: Shue and district materials noted the facilities plan is a guiding document that the board may revisit and adjust over the 10-year horizon. The presenters used survey results and building walkthroughs conducted December 2023–March 2024 to prioritize projects.