Plainfield SD 202 to gather community input after state funding reclassification; board to study activity buses

Plainfield SD 202 officials told the Board of Education on Nov. 5 that a recent state reclassification of the district’s funding tier has a material effect on district revenue and that the district will conduct community outreach and a survey to explore revenue-generation options.

At the meeting, Dr. Wood (district administration) said the State of Illinois reclassified Plainfield SD 202 from a tier 1 to a tier 2 funding category after adjustments to the consumer wage index for Will County. He said the change affects the district’s funding by roughly $6.8 million per year and later clarified that the adjustment represents a loss in funding to the district. The district plans to present updated attendance-boundary proposals and related financial information to the board in December and to share survey results at the Jan. 10 strategic planning session.

The district has contracted outside firms to help gather community input. Dr. Wood said Acuity Research will contact a sample of community members for an exploratory survey to “gauge any community priorities and perceptions,” including reactions to concepts such as property-tax options to support capital needs. Craig Meadows, a representative of Studio GC (a district partner on related planning work), described the work as fact-finding to determine community priorities before any formal proposal or information campaign.

“We did stay a little bit away from a lot of the kind of the why in here because we’re trying to figure out what people know without trying to convince them of too much yet,” Meadows said, describing the initial survey approach.

The financial discussion was set against administration warnings about enrollment growth: the district reported at least 11 new subdivisions across its footprint that could bring an estimated 3,000 to 7,000 new students over time, a factor administrators said increases capital and boundary-planning urgency.

Public comment at the meeting linked to the funding and access discussion. Anne Gervais, a school psychologist with 20 years in the district, urged the board to provide transportation so more high-school students could participate in extracurricular activities after the academic day. “Not all of our students can participate because their guardians don’t have the time, the means, or the ability to transport them, and participation, therefore, is not equitable,” Gervais said.

Following that public comment, Board member Dr. Ruhlin asked that the site and finance committee study the possibility of adding activity buses. “I would request that the site and finance committee consider adding it as an item for further study or research,” Ruhlin said; staff agreed to put the item on a future agenda for committee review.

District officials emphasized that the survey and outreach are part of an information-gathering phase and not a decision to pursue any particular revenue measure. Administrators said results will inform any next steps, including community education about reasons behind the funding change if gaps in understanding appear.

The board did not make any immediate funding decisions at the Nov. 5 meeting; it scheduled further review and a presentation of survey and boundary-plan updates in December and in the January strategic session.