Voters Again Reject Unit 4’s School Construction Initiative

The Champaign School District's effort to levy funds for construction has failed with 70 percent of voters casting "no" votes.

Unit 4 Schools' original effort failed on the Nov. 4 ballot, and a rebooted initiative to fund construction of a new Central High School among other improvement projects has had vocal opposition from the community.

The major opposition to the levy has come from a group called "Keep Central Central," which says the proposed location for a new Central High School on Champaign's north side is too far from the heart of the city.

A ballot initiative to fund the construction of a new Champaign Central High School failed in yesterday's election. The final tally was 70 percent voting no.

Opponents of the initiative weren't against the entire project itself, but a vocal group of voters rallied against the proposed location of the new Central High School, set to build in northern Champaign.

According to Laurie Bonnett, school board president,  the group's efforts were an effective block to the district.

"Clearly, those that were opposed to the site had a very loud voice as to the no," said Bonnett, "So when we would address one issue, they would attack it with another. So it really was very political in nature."

Bonnet says the issue likely won't be put to another vote for a few years, until the five new school board members elected last night settle in.