Mixed Outcomes in April '23 Referendum Results

Unofficial results from county election websites show a mixed response to referenda questions on the April 4, 2023, consolidated election ballot.  

At this time, totals show voters approved six of 13 building bond requests, with one remaining too close to call. 

The six building bonds approved include 

• Edwardsville CUSD 7, $100 million 
• Joliet PSD 86, $99.5 million 
• Lake Forest CHSD 115, $105.7 million 
• Milne-Kelvin Grove SD 91 (Lockport), $2.5 million 
• Pennoyer SD 79, $9.7 million 
• School District U-46 (Elgin), $179 million 

At this time, Aptakisic-Tripp CCSD 102’s request for $49 million remains too close to call. Update (April 17): Mail-in votes tallied approval for the Aptakisic-Tripp CCSD 102 bond referendum. 

Voters rejected bond requests in the following districts: Batavia PSD 101, Central CUSD 301 (Burlington), Freeburg CHSD 77, Kaneland CUSD 302, Mundelein CHSD 120, and Washington SD 52.  

School districts with tax rate increases on the ballot also had mixed results. Four of 10 proposals passed (Beecher CUSD 200U, McLean Co Unit District 5 (Normal), Pennoyer SD 79, and Western Springs SD 101). Currently, results are tied in Aviston SD 21, where election authorities are waiting for mail-in ballots to determine a winner. Proposals failed in Dalzell SD 98, Nauvoo-Colusa CUSD 325, and Prospect Heights SD 23.  

Voters in two of three school districts seeking to change how school board members are elected from congressional township to being elected at-large approved the measure. Board members will be elected at-large in the future from Kansas CUSD 3 and Hoopeston Area CUSD 11, but not in Morrisonville CUSD 1. 

All three Countywide Sales Tax propositions on the ballot, in Clinton, Hancock, and Vermilion counties, were rejected by voters. 

Voters rejected the miscellaneous referendum on the ballot for voters in Community Unit School District 94 (West Chicago). The question was “Shall Community High School District 94 allow $4 to $6 million of its future tax dollars, raising primarily from Central DuPage Hospital’s development of Winfield’s town center, to be diverted away from the School District and into Winfield TIF2 where Winfield intends to use the School District’s future tax dollars to develop Winfield’s proposed $16 million Village Hall and Police Station as well as a $1 million plaza?” 

IASB will update the finance election data in the coming weeks once results become official.