Elmwood CUSD 322 asked Peoria County voters to let it raise its maximum transportation levy rate from $0.20 to $0.40 per $100 of equalized assessed value, and the answer came back loud and clear: no. More than 68% of voters rejected the measure, leaving the district without the extra bus funding it had hoped to lock in.
The vote, reported by WCBU Peoria, would have generated an estimated $216,000 per year for the district, or roughly $2.2 million over a decade. For homeowners, the increase would have meant an estimated additional $67 per year on a home valued at $100,000. A separate local report from centralillinoisproud.com noted the change would not have altered the district's overall fall tax levy rate, instead shifting dollars specifically toward transportation operations.
Elmwood 322 Superintendent Joel Schmieg said that without the new revenue, moving money toward transportation may mean less funding available elsewhere in the district's budget, per the station's report. Had the measure passed, it would have given the district's board of education reliable revenue for transportation operations both this year and in future years, the same report noted.
Rising Costs Squeeze a Small District
Schmieg has pointed to vehicle maintenance and gas prices as contributing factors behind the district's climbing transportation costs, according to the WCBU report. He said Elmwood is okay in the immediate future, but that schools generally need to plan ahead to meet increased transportation expenditures. The superintendent added that the district will keep working to find ways to be economically sufficient, folding that effort into the district's five-year strategic plan, which covers safety, student success, community connection, fiscal responsibility, and facilities.
The financial pressure isn't new. Back in October 2025, Schmieg had projected a likely $800,000 deficit for Fiscal Year 2027 if the district maintained its present programs and class offerings, according to a report from The Weekly Post. That forecast sets the stage for why the district sought the levy increase in the first place, even though voters ultimately turned it down.
Statewide Transportation Costs Keep Climbing
Elmwood's struggle mirrors a broader trend across Illinois. Schools statewide spent $1.86 billion on student transportation during the 2025-26 school year, with contractual transportation services alone making up $1.24 billion of that total, according to a report via Yahoo News. Transportation costs have risen $610 million in five years, and a survey cited in the same report found more than half of responding districts exceeded their transportation budgets last school year. In response, many districts have consolidated bus routes, improved route efficiency, and enforced anti-idling measures to control costs. Meanwhile, Illinois was allocated $809.37 million for transportation reimbursement in Fiscal Year 2027, an amount that remained roughly unchanged from the prior year.
Other Local Measures Also Fell Short
Elmwood wasn't alone in seeing its levy request fail Tuesday. Knox County voters rejected a similar transportation levy measure, with two of three voters voting no, per the WCBU report. In Tazewell County, voters rejected a building sales tax question by a 54%-45% margin, a measure that the station's report says failed to gain approval for the third time. A Limestone Fire Protection District measure to raise its maximum allowable tax rate by 0.10% also failed, by a 68% to 32% margin, according to centralillinoisproud.com, while a Peoria Heights advisory referendum on continuing the village's contract with the city of Peoria passed with 1,102 votes in favor to 566 against.
The funding fight isn't unique to Illinois, either. In Indiana's Nov. 3 election, voters approved tax increases in 26 of 38 school districts with measures on the ballot, but 12 districts failed to pass their funding referendums, according to Chalkbeat. Among the losses, Mississinewa Community School District's property-tax measure failed by just 71 votes, and that district has said it plans to cut transportation for about 1,200 students the following year. For Elmwood, no such specific contingency has been laid out, but the vote leaves the district's transportation budget squeeze unresolved heading into the next fiscal year.
