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D300 presents $548 million master facilities plan and funding scenarios, board hears security and cost details
Summary
Leggett Architects outlined a six-year master facility plan with $548 million in proposed work across D300 schools; Raymond James presented funding options including referendums and life-safety bonds, and district leaders clarified existing building security versus planned vestibule upgrades.
Community Unit School District 300 trustees heard a detailed presentation Feb. 18 on a master facility plan that identifies capital needs across the district and outlines multiple financing scenarios for as much as $548 million in projects over the next six years.
The presentation, led by Kelsey Jordan of Leggett Architects and Elizabeth Hennessy of Raymond James, described projects organized into "good, better and best" priorities — from required safety and code work to capacity additions and educational enhancements — and sketched funding combinations that would use the district's capital projects balance, annual operating transfers, life-safety bonds and one or more referendum bond issues.
Why it matters: The plan would touch every district campus over a multi-year schedule and would affect long-term capital spending, potential voter referendums and taxpayer costs. Board members pressed architects and the district on timelines and what current security measures already exist versus the improvements being proposed.
Kelsey Jordan, senior architect and educational planner at Leggett Architects, described how projects were prioritized. "Good meaning safety and compliance," she said, noting that "better" addresses capacity needs and "best" supports educational enhancements and modern learning spaces. Jordan said specific projects included secure-entry upgrades at multiple elementary and middle schools, classroom additions in growth areas, traffic and drop-off improvements and a possible centralized career and technical education center whose location has not been identified.
Elizabeth Hennessy, managing director at Raymond James, presented the financial estimates that accompanied the plan. She said, "life safety items total 68,000,000. The good items total 71,100,000. The better items total 272,500,000. And the best items total a 36,800,000 for a total over this 6 year period of 548,000,000." Hennessy reviewed options that would combine about $69 million in the district's capital projects fund balance, roughly $48 million of operating (O&M) pay-as-you-go transfers at $8 million per year, life-safety bond issues and referendum bonds of varying sizes.
Under one example presented, a $360 million referendum to fund the full good/better/best program plus life-safety work would raise taxes by an estimated $129 a year for the owner of a $300,000 home (repayment modeled over 25 years). A smaller scenario that funds only the good and better work plus life-safety items—$412 million total under the example—would have a modeled net tax-rate change of about $69 per year for the owner of a $300,000 home when combined with restructuring of some existing debt. Hennessy also described a scenario in which a no-net-tax-rate-increase referendum of about $250 million could be issued if the district restructures existing debt and issues bonds payable over 25 years.
Board members sought clarity on secure entries after Jordan described proposed vestibule upgrades. Superintendent Martina Smith and district staff emphasized that all district buildings are currently locked and require visitors to be buzzed in; staff called the proposed work an enhancement that would move some schools to a multi-stage vestibule/main-office pattern that allows office staff to screen visitors before they enter the broader building.
The presentation did not include a board vote; district leaders said the session was informational and that the board must later decide which projects to authorize and which funding route to pursue. The master facility plan materials show a multi-year rollout, with many safety and capital improvements slated to begin in fiscal year 2026 and continue through fiscal year 2031.
Next steps: The district will use the board discussion and the consultants' options to develop specific project orders and funding recommendations. If a referendum is pursued, the board would need to set a question and timeline; Hennessy noted a March 2026 referendum as one example shown in the funding scenarios.
