Readers React to District 115's Potential $5M Capital Spending Plan

Replacement of aging infrastructure and improvements of athletic facilities at the Lake Forest High School East Campus are part of a potential $5 million capital spending plan under consideration by the Lake Forest Community High School District 115 Board of Education.

Readers have begun voicing their opinions about the potential plan since Patch published news about it last week.

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"This is crazy!" said Bob in the comments. "Borrowing money is another dumb idea on top of their last dumb idea. This is not the way you manage a budget. They already own $75M for the 'apple store' hallway they built."

The initial proposal calls for approximately $1.5 million to come from capital reserve funds and the remaining $3.5 million to be derived from the sale of bonds. Repayment of principal and interest will come from the operating budget, according to Albus.

The most expensive part of the project is replacing the approximately 20-year-old six-lane track atLindemeyer Field with an eight-lane banked oval and building new storage facilities to replace those currently located under the bleachers.

Steve Hill agrees that borrowing money is not a good idea.

"This would appear to be a case of clear fiscal mismanagement," Hill said. "Less than a year ago, the District 115 School Board turned down over $1.5 Million that had been raised by this community to fix the track and surrounding facilities at LFHS East Campus. This would have been one of the largest gifts in the history of Illinois public schools. A few months later, we're going to borrow money to fund the same project?"

One user, named "Me," asked a single question.

"The most fundamental question is: Do we really NEED these things or just want them?"

What do you think? Get more info about the plan here and leave a comment below.

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