Build a New School in the Sixth Ward

I’m not back for good, but here’s my take on the closure situation and a way forward that is maybe less grim

This is not the return of FOIA Gras - my life has changed a lot since January. Trump’s tariffs nuked my business (I made corrosion-sensing sensors), leading to a slow unwinding. I’ve recently started a new job and don’t have the time to run this operation. But given the importance of this topic, I felt a post was necessary in order to open up a comment section for people to comment, or organize. I don’t have time to moderate the comment section closely, so please follow the rules.

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My phone has been buzzing the past week to offer insight into District 65’s current predicament: the Roundtable reported in late September that the Board intends to close two or three schools, most likely ones in the sixth ward. Some folks held discussion on this subject Wednesday night at the Fat Shallot (where I’m told there is a bounty on me!?)

I want to zoom out a little bit and offer my thoughts.

This is fundamentally an issue about the long-term neglect and disinvestment in facilities by decades of District 65 Boards. The most recent analysis from 2022, found almost $188 million in deferred maintenance on District 65 facilities, almost $10 million per building! In my reporting, teachers frequently told me about falling ceiling tiles, moldy cabinets, damaged floors, and sinks shut off due to lead pipes. By the way, this isn’t unique to Evanston, many towns that prioritized education prewar are dealing with long term financial issues due to aging facilities. For instance, Princeton, New Jersey is wrangling with similar issues.

Prior Boards have pontificated about comprehensive facilities plans, committees have been formed, consultants employed yet we’re still in a position where there is no genuine long-term facilities plan. There’s a deep leadership vacuum on this front.

The Problem is bad

Despite the good news (?) from this year, the District’s current cash problems are very grim.

Once that number goes red, the District is out of money, taking out short term tax warrant loans, and on the path to state takeover. I lived in Detroit during the state takeover there - you don’t want a state take over - they’ll close more than three schools. There’s very little municipal bond room left, so this is it. It takes two years to close a building, there is real urgency to move quickly.

The worst-case outcome for all residents, not just the sixth ward, is to close buildings and sell properties for the one-time cash infusion. Those properties will be redeveloped and out of the public trust forever¹. The Board has thrown around other ideas, including renting buildings, but those ideas seem like wishful thinking. Who wants to rent an school in need of $12 million in repairs?

So, the sixth ward is going to bear the brunt of the closures, and I can’t blame the District’s consultant for targeting them - the utilization of the schools there is low: Lincolnwood (42%), Kingsley (39%) and nearby Foster School opens next year.

I can’t tell you how many sixth ward parents I’ve spoken to who want to send their kids to District 65 but don’t trust the District. There’s a lot of reasons, but people want something exciting and new .. and these facilities are ancient.

It is now a feedback loop, where sixth ward parents don’t want to send their kids to District 65, which then means utilization is low, which then causes further disinvestment. If a quarter or half the parents send their kids to private schools, why should the District invest in schools there?

The sixth ward (and every ward in Evanston) deserves a school that parents want to send their kids to. I think they should fight for that, not scraping by with the status quo.

The Alternative Strategy: Referendum

If you don’t want to close schools, you have another option: a referendum. Instead of protesting (it didn’t work out for the Bessie Rhodes parents, despite their best efforts), put together a referendum proposal that builds a school that sixth ward parents want to send their kids to. Figure out the rough costs and give the plan a brand (like “Envision Evanston”). Then show up at every board meeting and demand they send the plan to the voters. Spam your Mayor, Northwestern, and local news about this plan. Make it political. Make it hard for the Board to say no.

I wrote about a referendum before and it always gets me angry emails. Nobody wants to pay more in taxes, I get it. But this is partially why we are in this problem to begin with - some of these buildings should’ve been renovated or rebuilt years ago and there is an aversion to paying for it, while also feeling like money is wasted elsewhere.

The District can’t just use operating funds to pay for a building either. In Illinois School Code, a referendum is required for all new school construction. They are extremely common, in November 2024 there were 20 on ballots around the state.

Recall there was an operating funds referendum in 2017 that passed 80-20. Those funds were squandered - nearly $30 million was lost from reserves between 2019 and 2023 in unplanned Horton-era budget overruns. The lesson is to properly earmark the funds, prepare to bid out the work, and hit the gas on the project the day after the election. After the Board approved the Foster School construction² in May 2022, it still took almost 18 months to begin construction. Don’t do that!

District 65 is in vastly better shape structurally than it was when I started blogging. There is at least one year of evidence that operationally, the District appears to be moving away from the edge. They have a serious CFO now; Ms. Mitchell is President of the Illinois Association of School Business Officials and has dramatically reduced administrative headcount and implemented genuine financial controls. Additionally, due to the Foster School construction, the District has the know-how to actually bid out, hire, and construct a physical building for the first time in half a century.

The sixth ward community (not me!) should come up with their own plan, but here’s a straw-man to get you started:

Close Kingsley, Haven, and Lincolnwood. At the site of Lincolnwood, build a beautiful K-8 building. On the south side of town, propose gut renovations for Washington Elementary that integrate the facility with neighboring Robert Crown, and seek help from the City of Evanston and Northwestern. Bundle this up with a small amount of operating funds to bridge the gap financially.

I don’t live in that part of town, and don’t know the specifics, so don’t fry me over the straw man. The plan should come from you, not me (feel free to use the comments for this). But it will absolutely need to close buildings and optimize.

My main point is that we need to think bigger than just street fighting for the status quo, which isn’t that great.

Electorally, the iron will never be hotter than it will be in 2026. Mayor Biss and everyone’s cousin is running for the IL-9 congressional seat in March. November 2026 is the mid-term elections, which should serve as a referendum on Trump’s second term, including his gutting of public education. I feel pretty confident saying voters in Evanston will be pro-education next year.

Places like Evanston (and Princeton) had amazing educational systems in the 20th century because our community prioritized it before the state board of education even existed. In the face of massive federal disinvestment in education, it’s time to reaffirm that. New facilities are an investment now that pay dividends far longer than the tax increase.

1. I also lived in Detroit when they sold off public parks, like Belle Isle and Camp Dearborn. That also sucked. I think that selling off limited public land is generally a bad idea!

2. Illegally, I would still argue, but that’s a whole other story.