<img src="https://iustitia.bg/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/evanston-skokie-school-district-proposes-closure-elemen.jpg" alt="The proposed closures and boundary changes would save around $2.9 million annually, but force more than 700 students to switch schools. A board vote is set for Nov. 9.
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Evanston/Skokie School District 65 administrators revealed a plan to close Lincolnwood and Dewey Elementary Schools amid a budget-balancing proposal that would also impact attendance boundaries, shutter child care and early childhood development programs.
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District officials revealed the details of the previously announced plan at a board meeting Tuesday night to suggest retaining school properties as a “long-term facility strategy and vision for the future,” which could include using them as flex schools or repairing them in the future.
Evanston/Skokie School District 65 Assistant Superintendent Stacy Beardsley said Lincolnwood was chosen because Haven Middle School feeder schools require the most capital investment while seeing a 33% decline in enrollment.
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Most of its students would be absorbed into Willard Elementary School while Dewey Elementary School students would largely be transferred to Lincoln Elementary School, administrators said.
The proposed closures and boundary changes would save around $2.9 million annually, but force more than 700 students to switch schools, including some who had just moved to Lincolnwood after Kingsley Elementary School closed last year.
“We have confidence that this footprint is the right size for the district for the next decade,” Beardsley said. “The long-term plan for the Lincolnwood School would be to secure a referendum to build a modernized Lincolnwood School that could better meet the needs of our students today.”
The proposal also seeks to end the School Age Child Care program at the end of this school year, which administrators said cost $1.95 million and would need a 35% increase in what the district charged parents to break even. It also called for phasing out the district’s Head Start and Early Start programs by 2029, which officials said cost more than $2 million annually.
The closures and program reductions also mean the elimination of nearly 90 certified teachers and 129 support roles cut, along with eight administrators.
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In finding additional revenue streams, District 65 Chief Financial Officer Eric Miller proposed raising the student registration fee by $100 for students who don’t qualify for free or reduced lunches due to financial hardship.
A vote is scheduled for Nov. 9. Administrators also will also push for a ballot initiative added to the docket for 2028 which would allow residents to vote on the allocation of funds for the properties and renovations for existing schools.
Interim Superintendent Eric Witherspoon said if the board approved the plan, it would “be the last time that you see a proposal [to close schools] in this community.”
“There have been so many discussions and proposals and efforts to try to deal with our deficit, but we haven’t solved it, and we haven’t solved it because we have not gone directly at the structural issues,” Witherspoon said.
Last month, officials announced the plans to close at least two of 16 schools and shave $20 million from the budget, though they had yet to announce which schools would be targeted.
It’s the latest in a series of school closures over the last several years.
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Last year, Kingsley Elementary School was shuttered amid a prolonged debate — which, at the time, prevented Lincolnwood Elementary from closing — ultimately cutting $6 million in operational costs. In 2024, the board voted to close the Dr. Bessie Rhodes School of Global Studies, which shut its doors last June.
At the Tuesday meeting, Beardsley said the school closures of two schools last year saved the district $3 million. She also claimed the move saved the district $57 million in repairs over the next 20 years, though in its cost breakdowns, staffing remained the largest portion of savings.
When pressed by board members, Beardsley said increased transportation cost projections weren’t yet available, and that she would have to come back to the board with answers on how special education would be impacted.
“The path that drove us to budget deficits and student enrollment decline was paved by us,” said board member Maria Opdycke. “This is a situation of our own making.”
Board President Nichole Pinkard also briefly addressed the recent guilty plea from former District 65 superintendent Devon Horton on federal wire fraud, embezzlement and tax charges related
Earlier in the day, two former Chicago Public Schools employees also plead guilty to creating companies to apply as vendors for professional service contracts with Evanston/Skokie District 65 by submitting “false and fraudulent” documents to win more than $100,000. They then hid thousands of dollars in kickbacks to Horton, according to federal prosecutors.
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“The convergence of this report and Dr. Horton’s guilty plea reminds the board that rebuilding trust requires more than statements,” Pinkard said. “It requires accountability in how we oversee this district, make decisions, and communicate with the people we serve. And it requires vigilance in our execution of these duties.”
Evanston/Skokie School District 65 proposes closure of 2 elementary schools 2026
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IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2026 2026-10-15 02:23:03
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