After months of floating plans for school renovations and getting feedback from community members, Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 committed to asking local voters and property taxpayers for funds to renovate the district’s two middle schools and five elementary schools, with the largest share of work to be done to update Lincoln Middle School.
At its Thursday meeting, the Board of Education voted to place a referendum question asking the community for $89 million on the Nov. 5 election ballot. After it spent months hearing feedback and subsequently reduced the referendum amount four times from its original $145 million, the board voted unanimously in favor of the request.
The decision was applauded by parents of students who attended District 64 schools who were present at the board meeting. Board President Denise Pearl said, “Our schools are really a source of pride in the community. Three of the schools are 100 years old; others are over 60 years old. Our buildings have health and safety concerns and outdated infrastructure and spaces that no longer serve the needs of all of our students. So I really want to thank the board for supporting this recommendation for a bond referendum.”
Lauren Rapisand, a mother of two students at Washington Elementary School, spoke in favor of the referendum during public comment and told Pioneer Press after the referendum was approved “The education our children are getting is great. We want our buildings to match that.”
Superintendent Ben Collins said the last minute cuts will not affect the district’s renovations, and the district will shift around its finances to cover HVAC, boiler, chiller and flooring expenses using its capital funds for projects for the next three fiscal years.
While the board voted unanimously for the referendum, Board Member Phyllis Lubinski expressed concern that another referendum that, if passed, would cost hundreds of dollars annually for Park Ridge and Niles homeowners and could be burdensome. Voters have in recent years approved referendum measures to improve the area’s Maine Township High School District 207 high schools and a Park Ridge Park District ice arena. A last-minute motion to reduce the referendum number to $85 million introduced by Board Member Gareth Kennedy failed on a 4-2 vote.
The district released an updated property tax calculator on Friday morning, Aug. 16, for homeowners to calculate how much extra they would have to pay if voters approve the ballot question.
According to the calculator, the owner of a home valued at $500,000 would have to pay an additional $411.52 annually in property taxes. Those figures are based on a 25-year bond payment plan, but the Board won’t make a final decision on the length of the payment plan until the referendum passes, according to District 64 Communications Specialist Chris Lilly.
The district first hinted at a January PTO meeting that it might head to referendum to acquire funds needed for repairs to the schools’ infrastructures, including HVAC work, safety and security concerns, plumbing and overall improvements. Collins presented the possibility of a building addition to Lincoln Middle School to house a special education wing for emotional support classrooms and a structured learning community, which students have access to at Washington.
Collins said the district spends $1.14 million in tuition and $280,000 in transportation fees annually to send students who need a structured learning community or an emotional support classroom to schools out of the district. If Lincoln Middle School had those same resources, the district could save money and offset the construction cost, he said.
Ultimately, the board voted to issue $10 million in bonds to renovate portions of Lincoln Middle School, which is already anticipated to use the lion’s share of funds provided by the referendum, if passed, to house the structured learning community and and emotional support classroom without going to referendum for those funds. Construction began over the summer, and a building addition which will house the new cafeteria is part of the referendum.
In February, the Board of Education was presented a $145 million proposal from the architectural firm Wight Architects to renovate and improve all of the district’s schools. The proposal was met with excitement, but tempered by the potential tax burden it would place on residents. Board Member Rachel Georgakis said then the proposal was a “dream list. I love all of it. I don’t love the price tag.” The Board of Education later reduced the proposal to $98.36 million.
Throughout April and May the district held 17 community engagements at Park Ridge venues with local organizations, at the district’s schools and virtually on Zoom.
A poll was conducted with 200 registered voters in Park Ridge to ask them if they would vote for the referendum in November. The poll’s findings were presented to the Board in June, and showed that the referendum had slim support. Support for the referendum also slightly dropped when residents were made aware of how much their property tax bill would increase.
“Right now in this particular district there is a lot of tax sensitivity. There’s a lot of tax sensitivity in lots of the districts, that (referendum consultant Paul Hanley) and I have polled in so far this year, but this district is where we are seeing the highest degree of it,” said one of the pollster’s consultants to the board.
Recent examples of Park Ridge and Niles taxing bodies either asking residents for additional funds or spending from their savings include:
- In 2018, Maine Township residents approved a referendum enabling Maine Township High School District 207 to spend $195 million for upgrades to the district’s three high schools, Maine South, Maine East and Maine West.
- Four years later Park Ridge voters approved a $33.4 million referendum to upgrade the Park Ridge Park District’s ice arena and make other improvements at Oakton Park.
- In 2021-22, Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 spent a total of $38.8 million renovating Jefferson School and putting additions on all its elementary schools to accommodate full-day kindergarten classes.
The consultant advised the District 64 Board to reduce the referendum amount and to continue the work to get a referendum question on the ballot for the Nov. 5 election because voter turnout will be higher.
On July 17, the Board of Education made further cuts from the $98.36 million figure to $92.38 million. “We definitely took to heart everything that was said at the last Board meeting (when the poll results were presented). We cross-referenced our goals with our strategic plan and then looked again at what polled where and where things were laying with that group of people that weighed in,” Collins said.