The Park Ridge Niles School District 64 Board of Education announced it will present information to community members at engagement events as it considers whether to ask them for $145 million in a referendum to obtain funding to renovate the district’s eight schools.
The district recently spent $38.9 million, which was $13 million over original projected costs, to put additions onto five schools to enable full-day kindergarten, as well as renovate Jefferson School and the district’s administrative offices. The board approved that expense in 2021, and there were additional costs of $2.5 million for interest, plus technology and furniture expenses.
The district board will host 12 engagement events from April 11 to May 8, and hosted two events on April 9. According to the district’s website, the board will decide by August if it wants to ask Park Ridge and Niles taxpayers if they want to spend additional funds for schools, via a referendum question on the ballot in the November election.
In a message to parents on April 4, District 64 Superintendent Ben Collins said, “Our school district has done everything possible to address these issues without our current budget, and we are at the point where we are considering major renovations in these areas with additional funding in the form of a referendum in the future.”
At a February Board of Education meeting, architects presented proposed renovations to the schools, which would expand spaces, increase safety, and upgrade the schools’ heating/cooling and plumbing systems. Some board members said they appreciated the architects’ efforts but wanted to make cuts because the $145 million price tag would be too costly for Park Ridge and Niles taxpayers.
The community engagement events will be for community members to ask questions about the renovations. In the next decade, three of the district’s schools, Lincoln Middle School, Roosevelt Elementary School and Eugene Field Elementary School will turn 100 years old each, according to Collins.
The engagement events are on the following dates and times. The district asks attendees to RSVP.
- April 11 at 6 p.m. before the District 64 Jazz Fest at Lincoln Middle School, 200 S. Lincoln Ave., Park Ridge.
- April 15 at Maine South High School, 1111 S. Dee Rd., Park Ridge.
- April 16 at 6 p.m. in the Hendee Rooms at Jefferson School, 8200 Greendale Ave, Niles.
- April 18 at 12 p.m. virtually.
- April 24 at 7:30 p.m. before band concerts at Emerson Middle School, 8101 N. Cumberland Ave, Niles.
- April 27 at 12 p.m. at Lincoln Middle School, 200 S. Lincoln Ave., Park Ridge.
- May 1 at 9 a.m. virtually.
- May 1 at 12 p.m. with Rotary at The Harp And Fiddle, 110 Main St., Park Ridge.
- May 8 at 7 a.m. with Kiwanis at Panera Bread, 39 S. Northwest Hwy., Park Ridge.
- May 8 at 7 p.m. at Lincoln Middle School, 200 S. Lincoln Ave., Park Ridge.
If the board decides it wants to let voters decide through referendum to fund additional improvements to the district’s schools, it won’t be the the first time a local government has asked Park Ridge and Niles to pay more in taxes for upgrades to their public institutions. In 2022, Park Ridge voters decided through referendum to approve $33.4 million to upgrade the Park Ridge Park District’s ice arena. In 2018, Maine Township residents approved Maine Township High School District 207 to spend $195 million for upgrades to the district’s three high schools.
