In the wake of a failed budget referendum, Hinsdale Central and South high schools in the western suburubs of Chicago have officially cut not only their boys and girls swimming and water polo teams, they’ve also eliminated their football programs.
The moves are part of a nearly $3.7 million budget reduction, according to The Chicago Tribune. The district originally sought to cut at least $2.1 million from its budget for the 2019-2020 school year to fund about $46 million in facility improvements. But the school board wound up approving even more in cuts. “$2.1 million is too small a target for us,” said one board member in the Tribune piece.
The cuts come after local voters rejected a $166 million budget referendum in November.
The district did put a smaller, $130 million referendum on an April 2 ballot. While some board members said they expected the athletic programs to be reinstated if the referendum passes, one board member told the Tribune residents shouldn’t assume the cuts would be reversed even if the referendum passes. The April 2 referendum would provide new six-lane, 25-yard swimming pools at both Central and South high schools, but the Tribune story also notes that the $39 million proposed to build the pools in the last referendum was a reason some voted against the referendum, according to board members.
One board member also disagreed with building equal pools at both facilities, hoping for 8 lanes and 40 yards at Central because Central has about 1300 more students than its counterpart.
The Tribune report says the district already approved salary freezes and staff reductions, and includes some specific numbers on how much the district will save by cutting its athletic programs. The football program is the most expensive sport to operate at either high school, costing $129,705 for a 179-person team at Central and $145,817 for a 101-person team at South.
The total savings from all the athletic cuts – which include football, swimming, water polo, cheerleading and bass fishing – would be $789,000.
Come across the border to swim in Indiana! Indiana swimming has great vision and continues to build 50 meter pools for their high schools! Also lower taxes and no bloated pension plans!
Maybe build one pool and share or look at some area pools and clubs.
None of the high schools in NC have pools- all the teams rent lane space at whatever facilities are nearby. Many have several high schools using the same pool. We frequently have tri and quad meets to make the most of the pool space there is.
Please tell me the plans weren’t actually to build 40y pools! If so, this should go into the bureaucracy hall of shame.
Yes sir. 40 yard stretch pools to allow water polo to use them as well.
40 yards is considerably cheaper to build than 55m (50m+ bulkhead length). Normally, a bulkhead divides the 25y swim practice pool area at one end from the diving practice area at the other. Move the bulkhead the other way, though, and you have a 25 yard full-depth area for water polo/synchronized swimming/etc. Move it to the middle, you have enough area for two different PE classes.
Hinsdale Central HS has won 18 men’s and 7 women’s state championship titles in their history….in a state where there is only a single swimming & diving championship class (no A, AA, AAA, etc). And it’s not just a “they used to be good in the old days” story. The men have won as recently as 2015, and have been in the top 3 each of the last 6 seasons. Their pool is ancient history, though. I thought it was dated when I swam a meet there in 1984. It’s hopelessly dated now….so dated, they’re not even allowed to use the diving boards anymore.
If any HS team in the state deserves a new pool (and something more than… Read more »
What else was part of the referendum? Could it have included something that most tax payers did not want to cover?
Unfortunately, this is an us vs. them situation.
Central is located in the more expensive part of town, while South has a different demographic.
The South voters were the most vocal about splitting the referendum money 50/50 instead of the 65/35 split favoring Central. Which in fact is the same proportion as the tax dollars collected each year.
The schools were also not getting the same pools.
Central was going to get a 10 lane 40 yard stretch, while South was going to get a 6 lane 40 yard stretch.
Considering Central has 160+ boys and girls swimmers and divers compared to Souths 45, it made perfect sense, but was still deemed unfair to some of the voters.
So South, which has 37% of the students in the 2-school district, in a building that’s ~10 years newer, wants to split the money 50/50? And they object to Central having a bigger pool, despite the fact that Central has 70% more students AND a tremendous swimming pedigree? Sounds like it’s time to split the district and let South fund themselves.
That would be the best solution, but the demographics at the South campus are more minority than Central.
Because of that, the schools will have a very difficult time splitting. The state of Illinois will object to creating a new district with a smaller minority representation at Central.
The failed $166mil referendum was for a comprehensive list of repairs, renovations, and facility upgrades for the two aging high schools (~60 & 50 years old). A new pool for each (one 10 lanes x 40y @ $24mil, the other 6 lanes x 40y @ $15mi) were the two biggest single line items, and were apparently cited as objectionable by many of the “no” voters.
So they’re going back with a new referendum for April that’s $36 million less. $20 million of the difference comes from dropping the new pools, and, instead, spending ~$19mil to renovate the two existing 6 lane x 25y pools. That change would save the average home owner in district a whopping $36/year. Again, the… Read more »
The average homeowner would have paid 24 cents per day, but they considered that a luxury.
The kids’ programs got cut but you can bet the teacher’s underfunded pensions didn’t take a hit.
Bass fishing?
Hinsdale swimming has a storied history. Therefore, the district will drop swimming. If the school was known for the arts, the district would drop the arts. This is a standard play to influence a yes vote for the next referendum. My community high school, north of Chicago, is in the process of replacing their 25 yard pool with a 50 meter pool and we have never been a power in swimming.
Certainly hope TAK is right. If I read the article correctly, they’re cutting swimming and water polo to be able to pay for two new swimming pools. That makes sense. I’m sort of glad Don Watson isn’t alive to see this. Central was a dominant high school swimming program in1960’s through the 1980s and later
in today’s big news, taxes pay for things people want!