The OPRF school board is slated to receive cost estimates for Project 3, now marketed as Act 3, at its June 11 meeting, after getting their first look at its schematic design last week.(1) Act 3 is the third of five projects comprising the Imagine Plan, an ambitious renovation of the school estimated at $219 million in 2018, a now-acknowledged lowball figure.(2)
The construction costs of Project 1, Project 2 and its geothermal system total $156.7 million. That doesn’t include $20 million in debt-certificate-borrowing costs incurred by Project 2 or the $16.5 million outdoor track & field project.(3 & 4) The latter wasn’t part of the Imagine Plan, but that’s another story.
The Imagine Plan is the product of the Imagine Group, formed by the then-superintendent in 2017. She tasked the group to “imagine” the possibilities in creating a renovation plan. There was no budget. Due to cost, it’s an unbuildable master plan.(5 & 6)
According to the current OPRF newsletter, Act 3 “may” go to referendum. May go to referendum? Best practice should be the default action, not a possibility, but the board has avoided bond referendums. It issued non-referendum bonds to build a 50-meter pool in 2015. Voters responded by petitioning them on the ballot. The board circumvented referendums to build the Imagine Plan by funneling the mountainous cash reserve of overtaxed dollars, money that should have been returned to taxpayers, into the capital fund.(7 & 8)
The board used a second loophole to fund Project 2 and its 37-meter pool, issuing “last-resort” debt certificates against the advice of its Community Finance Committee. Taxpayers must repay them, $3.2 million annually, despite being denied a vote on the borrowing. Their repayments will clog the operating budget for 19 more years.(9, 10 & 11)
The Imagine Foundation is behind on its promised $12.5 million for Project 2, having given $4 million to date, with its completion three months away. Accordingly, significant philanthropy funding appears unlikely for Act 3.(12)
Putting funding aside, the overarching question is whether Act 3 should be considered now. Money is tight all around, even at OPRF. Its finance chief recently sent a memo to department heads asking how they’d cut 5% from their budgets next year if needed.(13)
In a recent letter, Business & Civic Council of Oak Park cited Project 3 and other looming projects in underscoring that our taxing bodies’ failure to coordinate spending has resulted in “unsustainable tax increases,” eroding affordability in our community, referencing the 2018 Taxing Bodies Efficiency Task Force Report. It recommended a moratorium on referendums until 2030 to slow tax growth and that referendums be placed on general election ballots to maximize voter participation.(14 & 15)
OPRF’s promotion of Project 3/Act 3 now comes across as tone deaf, as it would further drive out income diversity regardless of how the project’s funded, just as OPRF’s inflated levy, never reset after extreme overtaxation, and higher-than-needed levy increases have made the district less affordable for many.(8, 16 & 17)
Sources for this essay can be found in the online version at oakpark.com.
Monica Sheehan is a 25-year Oak Park resident and former news reporter.
Sources:
1) The OPRF Connection May/June 2026 newsletter: Design + Costs for Third Phase of Imagine Facilities Plan Coming Soon
https://www.facebook.com/groups/D200PragmaticSolutions
2) Wednesday Journal 10/30/18 news story: OPRF facilities plan cost jumps to nearly $220M
3) OPRF website: Construction cost of projects since 2020
4) Community Finance Committee 10/15/24 meeting minutes: Debt certificate issuance update
https://oprfhsorg.community.highbond.com/document/d631d9bc-005a-4ca5-add3-0c0ab3ae980c
5) OPRF Board 12/13/16 meeting memo: Post-referendum recommendation
6) Wednesday Journal 11/20/18 news story: D200 board accepts Imagine master plan
7) Wednesday Journal 1/20/16 news story: D200 board votes to withdraw pool bonds
8) History of the District 200 Fund Balance and 2005 tax loophole:
https://www.oprfhs.org/about/business-office/fund-balance-background
9) Community Finance Committee 2/28/23 meeting minutes: Debt certificates “last resort” borrowing option
https://oprfhsorg.community.highbond.com/document/f3178095-73da-4c72-8967-bdd031998b47
10) Wednesday Journal 3/3/23 news story: Citizen finance group at OPRF favors Project 2 referendum
11) Wednesday Journal 4/28/23 news story: OPRF unanimously decides financing for its Project 2