Four years after voters approved a $147 million referendum for capital improvements in Barrington School District 220, the school board has approved asking taxpayers for $64 million more in the upcoming November election.
At their Aug. 13 meeting, members of the SD220 Board of Education voted to proceed with a referendum seeking voter approval to “address safety, security, and instructional needs at our schools as well as build a new community auditorium at Barrington High School,” according to a district news release announcing the vote and dates for community forums to discuss the referendum.
The $64 million would be used to help increase safety and security throughout the district, which includes eight K to 5 elementary schools, two middle schools, an early learning center for pre-K and kindergarten and Barrington High School.
Planned safety upgrades and installations include adding lockdown features throughout the district, keycard access, more energy-efficient mechanical systems at the high school, safer and more energy-efficient doors and windows at all schools, and improved flooring.
Also, a community auditorium with enhanced technology would be built at BHS, with the goal of making it accessible not only for students and school events, but also expanded community rentals. Science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) instructional spaces would be improved at schools throughout the district, the release explains.
Calling the amount “efficient and fiscally responsible,” officials state in the release that the final $64 million community-driven plan would cost the average SD220 household an additional $236 per year.
The referendum will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Information sessions are scheduled for: Sept. 9 at Barrington High School; Sept. 18 at Barrington Middle School- Station Campus; Sept. 19 at Barbara Rose Elementary School; and another one at BHS on Sept. 28 following the homecoming parade.
The board’s decision to go with this dollar amount comes after months of consideration of several plans – which ranged in cost from $45 million to $76.
Last fall, the district formed a referendum advisory committee and tasked it with gathering information related to asking taxpayers to fund improvements to the fine and performing arts spaces at the high school. Community sessions and other information-gathering efforts took place.
Then, district officials began this past spring to present specific “packages” – which each included a menu of proposed capital improvements and a respective cost – to the board and community at-large. During one spring information session, Superintendent Craig Winkelman acknowledged the last referendum only four years ago. Taxpayers’ approval back then allowed the district to issue bonds and increase property taxes
“We understand we can’t keep coming back to the community. That’s why we’re trying to get feedback on a range of options so that we don’t keep coming back with more and more referendums to keep raising those dollars,” Winkelman told attendees of a March 11 session.
But, he told stakeholders at that session, the 2020 referendum gave the district only a quarter of the approximately $600 million it really needs for all of the capital work desired.
