Schools
QuickStory: FACTS Member Questions Pre-Referendum Enrollment Projections
TaxFACTS leader Bob McQuillan suggests the School District 304 enrollment numbers used to promote the 2007 referendum were inflated.
A member of a taxpayer watchdog group suggested publicly Monday night that Geneva voters were given inflated enrollment projection numbers prior to an April 17, 2007, referendum seeking funds to build two new elementary schools.
TaxFACTS citizens group leader Bob McQuillan challenged the Geneva School District 304 Board at its Monday night meeting to explain why enrollment projection numbers offered to the general public prior to the 2007 referendum were higher than the highest projections made by a School District 304 consultant in 2006.
McQuillan said he found the consultant's enrollment projection numbers for the years 2007 to 2012 on the School District's website while he was reviewing the minutes of the School Board's March 17, 2012, "retreat" session held at the district's Central Office, 227 N. Fourth St., Geneva.
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The projections were made in 2006 by John D. Kasarda, Ph.D.
McQuillan said after Monday night's meeting that Kasarda offered "low," "expected" and "absolute maximum" ranges of projected enrollment for the years from 2007 to 2012. McQuillan said numbers provided to the public prior to the referendum were significantly higher than the "absolute maximum" numbers.
Find out what's happening in Genevawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
School Board President Mark Grosso thanked McQuillan but said he could not answer McQuillan's question without some time to review the documents. When McQuillan asked when the district would provide an answer, Grosso answered, "Soon."
In a later public comment portion of the meeting, McQuillan said his question about the apparent discrepancy was not a Freedom of Information Act request. He asked that the board publish a response on its website under "Frequently Asked Questions" prior to the next board meeting.
The next regularly scheduled School Board meeting is 7 p.m. April 23, at the , 1113 Peyton St.
2007 REFERENDUM QUESTION
Shall the Board of Education of Geneva Community Unit School District Number 304, Kane County, Illinois, build and equip two new elementary school buildings and a maintenance building, alter, repair, equip and make site improvements to existing school buildings and issue the bonds of said School District to the amount of $79,990,000 for the purpose of paying for the costs thereof?
SOURCE: School District 304 website pdf
