St. Charles CUSD 303
201 South 7th Street
St. Charles, IL 60174
Two decades of building decisions, in order, with the part that matters most for trust shown on every dollar event: how it was paid for, and whether voters were asked. Every decision below was made at a public meeting, and the records are open to anyone.
Below is a timeline of the major facilities decisions made in D303 over the past two decades. We include not only the building changes, but also the factors that influenced each change: how it was paid for, whether voters were asked, and why decisions were made. Every decision below was made at a public meeting, and the records are open to anyone.
A growing district asks voters to fund new construction. Voters decline each time.
The district buys 43 acres at Crane and Silver Glen Roads for a combined school campus, but ballot measures to fund construction are defeated in back-to-back years. The land goes unbuilt.
The district asks to swap retiring bonds for $114 million in new ones at a flat tax rate, to remodel Thompson and Wredling and rebuild Haines and Davis. Voters say no, choosing the tax reduction instead.
With no new construction money, the district reorganizes inside existing walls.
Overcrowded Davis and under-enrolled Richmond are combined into Davis Primary (K-2) and Richmond Intermediate (3-5). The pairing lasts until the district returns every elementary to a K-5 model in 2024.
Declining enrollment and the risk of reduced state funding drive the biggest decision of the decade: close Haines, modernize Thompson and Wredling, and do it without a referendum.
The board directs staff to draft a November 2016 ballot question of up to $60 million and holds public forums on three options, all closing Haines. A summer survey finds residents support two upgraded middle schools but do not want a tax increase to pay for them.
Upgrade Wredling, rebuild and expand Thompson, close Haines as a middle school by fall 2019, saving $2.4M per year. Funded from four sources, none requiring a referendum: a $7.8M State of Illinois construction grant, $19.3M from the district's fund balance (accumulated savings), $15M in working cash bonds issued within the district's existing non-referendum debt authority, and $7.9M in operating dollars: a $1.7M budget surplus plus annual budget allocations across 2016-19, largely the savings from closing Haines.
The cafeteria is expanded to host the larger student body that consolidation brings. Ten science classrooms receive more limited interior renovations, including updated casework, within the rooms' existing footprints. Meanwhile, Thompson students are split between two buildings during construction: younger grades attend Thompson itself, using areas not under construction, while older grades attend the Haines building. All three grades are together in the completed Thompson for 2019-20.
With elementary enrollment down and Fox Ridge at 69% of capacity, the board votes 6-1 to convert it to early childhood use and redraws elementary boundaries. About 600 students districtwide change schools; the change saves roughly $280K per year.
Following the district's 2016 decision not to replace the retiring debt, the annual bond levy falls from roughly $21M to under $5M when the old bonds are paid off in 2018. The owner of a $300,000 home sees school taxes drop by roughly $600 per year.
Thompson nearly doubles to about 196,000 square feet: 31 new classrooms, 11 science labs, air conditioning, a second gym, and an expanded cafeteria. The community open house is August 20, 2019.
Instead of selling or demolishing closed buildings, the district puts them back to work, and starts its first true facilities master plan.
By a 5-2 vote, the board demolishes the building's oldest wing and renovates the rest: two new classrooms and a home for the Transition Program (young adults 18-22 with an IEP), space that today houses Compass Academy, district instruction offices, and a board room. The Park District uses the gym and music rooms; the Public Library rents space during its own renovation.
A small districtwide high school of choice, Compass Academy, with flexible schedules and project-based, competency-based learning, opens with about 90 students. It remains at the Haines Center today.
New guiding principles, minimum space standards, and capacity data drive a coordinated set of moves: three buildings change roles in a single plan.
The board adopts 13 facility guiding principles and hires demographers RSP & Associates to study enrollment and capacity building by building. The finding: enrollment is stable overall, but students and classroom space are in the wrong places.
The standards require at least 18 core classrooms plus dedicated space for specials and student services. Lincoln, with 12 classrooms, cannot meet them; several west-side schools are over capacity. Seven scenarios are publicly costed, including buying an office building and building a new early childhood center.
Effective fall 2024, per the approved board memo: Fox Ridge reopens as a K-5 elementary. Early Childhood moves to a renovated wing at Haines. Lincoln is repurposed for the Transition Program and a Professional Learning Center in its former gym. Estimated cost $14.6M, funded with long-term borrowing within the district's existing authority.
Rather than build out staff office space at Lincoln, the board buys an existing warehouse and office building at 602 Sidwell Court for $1.1M. The purchase removes $1.75M of planned Lincoln construction, including the staff office buildout and its planned elevator, for a net savings of about $650K. Lincoln's final scope: the Transition Program and the Professional Learning Center.
About $6.5M at Lincoln, roughly $5.3M in construction contracts approved in February 2024 plus abatement and site work, for the Transition wing with ADA improvements and the Professional Learning Center. About $8.6M at Haines (early childhood classrooms, two new playgrounds). The aging, outdated mobile classrooms at North and East High Schools are demolished; they are not replaced with brick and mortar classrooms, so the district operates with fewer classrooms than before. The work is paid for with non-referendum bonds: borrowing repaid within the district's existing debt limits, not a voter-approved tax increase. New attendance boundaries, approved February 2024, take effect and end the Davis-Richmond pairing.
The district keeps investing where it can, gives its most-moved students a permanent home, and puts the full picture in front of the community.
ACCESS, serving elementary students with autism, grew from 7 students in 2017 to nearly 50, and its classrooms moved repeatedly as buildings filled. The board votes 5-1 to consolidate the program at Corron, Fox Ridge, and Munhall, choosing Corron for its dedicated therapy and sensory spaces.
A $6.35M addition and renovation: two new classrooms, updated learning spaces, a new gym floor, partial roof replacement, and full sprinkler coverage. Ground broke February 19, 2026; finished for the 2026-27 school year.
The Communitywide Education Facilities Committee (staff, parents, students, and residents) spends five months touring schools and reviewing data. It identifies roughly $187M in deferred maintenance and recommends $295.6M in improvements across 16 projects. The process is staffed by Chief School Business Official Jennifer Porter and Executive Director of Facilities Amanda Stuber, who joined the district in 2023. Whether to place a referendum on the November 2026 ballot is the School Board's next decision, and if it does, the final decision belongs to voters.
