Questions have been asked since the vote to consolidate East Alton School District 13, Wood River Hartford District 14 and East Alton Wood River Community High School District 14 into a single community district failed.
The measure went down by 938-931 on Tuesday, voting to not consolidate.
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East Alton-Wood River High Community High School District 14 Superintendent John Pearson said he was disappointed the measure went down, but was uncertain whether it would resurface on a ballot again in the future.
He pointed out the measure went down by only 12 votes the time before.
“I was personally hoping it would pass,” he said.
The committee that worked on the project put an enormous amount of time in, Pearson said. He said it would likely take those people some time to want to push to put it on the ballot again because of that effort.
“Consolidation would have kept the territory the same as the high school tax base and with one school board and one superintendent,” he said. “We do share the same boundaries and tax base. Half of each are in each elementary school district.”
Another positive would have been a similar curriculum in both elementary schools where as now they do have their individual differences, Pearson said.
"The two elementary schools don’t have the same textbooks now,” Pearson said. “They also make their own individual decisions on staff development and technological integration.”
Pearson said it was simply too early to speculate on whether or not a consolidation would come about again in the near future in the East Alton, Wood River and Hartford communities. He praised those on the committee for their enthusiasm and work.
“The people on the committee were parents with kids in the elementary school age and they worked very hard,” he said. “It went down by 12 votes in 2001 and that was a different group on that committee.”
The question to be voted on by the electorate of these districts read as follows:
“Shall East Alton-Wood River High School District 14, East Alton School District 13 and Wood River-Hartford School District 15, Madison County, Illinois be dissolved and a new school district be established as follows: A new community unit school district formed from all the territory included within East Alton-Wood River High School District 14, East Alton School District 13, and Wood River-Hartford School District 15, Madison County Illinois, with the authority to levy taxes for various purposes as follows: Education Fund Purposes $2.41, Operation and Building Maintenance Fund Purposes $0.64, Transportation Fund Program Purposes $0.20, Health Life and Safety Fund Purposes $0.10, Working Cash Fund Purposes $0.05, and Lease Fund Purposes $0.10, each upon all the taxable property of the school district at the value thereof, as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue, and a new community unit school district be formed from all the territory included within East Alton-Wood River High School District 14, East Alton School District 13, and Wood River-Hartford School District 15, Madison County, IL?”
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