To have a referendum in 2027 or not? That’s the question the Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 Board of Education will likely decide at its Oct. 22 meeting. The school board will decide whether to ask voters at the April 6 local election to authorize borrowing $84.6 million to go forward with the third stage, called Act 3, of the Imagine plan to redo OPRF. Act 3 would focus on the performing arts, especially music, and demolish and rebuild portions of the southwest portion of the building to construct new music spaces including new band, choir and orchestra rooms.
The school administration is not making a recommendation as to whether the school board should place a referendum on the ballot next spring or wait one year. D200 Superintendent Greg Johnson said he is torn and outlined a number of concerns with putting a referendum on the ballot in 2027.
“I would say that a spring referendum this school year is challenging for a number of reasons,” Johnson told the school board at its Oct 8 meeting.
Johnson said he was concerned about the delay in completing Project 2, the new physical education wing in the southeast corner of the building that is not expected to be fully open until December, nearly four months behind schedule. That delay gives the community less time to see what the improvement to the school looks like and does. Johnson is concerned about construction fatigue.
“There is a question about the appetite and the ability for the community to say yes this is the right time,” Johnson said. “Had Project 2 been done in August is kind of a different conversation.”
Johnson also said he is not sure there is enough time before the April 6 election for proponents of the Act 3 project to make their case to voters.
But Johnson also said that the need for new music spaces is great and that he wants students to have new, better spaces as soon as possible. Johnson, who is expected to retire when his current contract expires in 2030, also noted that he personally would like to see Act 3 completed while he is superintendent which wouldn’t happen if a referendum is delayed until 2028.
If a referendum is not held at the local elections on April 6, 2027, the next opportunity for a referendum would be the primary election in the spring of 2028 or the November 2028 general election. Johnson said if the school board wants to hold a referendum next spring, they have to decide as soon as possible to let the school and supporters do what is necessary to prepare for the referendum.
Anthony Arbogast, the district’s top finance official, said the current climate might not be the best time to ask voters to vote to increase their taxes but also noted that a delay would mean that students would have at least one year longer in less than ideal spaces.
“This is a tough economic climate and I’m sure it’s one our families are feeling as well, but it is never lost on me that delaying one year is one more year with our students living with what we have,” Arbogast said.
Costs of the project are expected to increase if the school board decides to delay for a year.
At least three school board members, Jonathan Livingston, Graham Brisben, and Josh Gertz, said at the Oct 8 meeting that they do not favor holding a referendum in 2027. Board member Kathleen Odell also seemed inclined to wait a year.
“My intuition is that spring 2027 is too soon,” Odell said.
Tim Brandhorst spoke strongly in favor of holding a referendum next spring while Fred Arkin said that he was undecided and wavering and school board president Audrey Williams-Lee did not tip her hand.
Depending on the length of the bond issue, a successful referendum next spring would cost the owner of a home worth $500,000 an additional $290 to $333 in property taxes annually to pay off the bonds. The cost to the owner of home worth $700,000 would range from $414 to $475 annually.
Livingston argued strongly in favor of waiting a year. He said the fact that the administration was not making any recommendation and had concerns about having a referendum in 2027 was telling.
“We got an I’m on the fence recommendation from the administration,” Livingston said.
Livingston said this is not the right time to hold a referendum saying the school needed more time to educate voters about the project and the need. Livingston said he favored the project and didn’t doubt the need but was concerned that a 2027 referendum would be defeated.
“I think it would folly to rush to a referendum in the spring of 2027,” Livingston said. “I think the risk is too great. I prefer to delay a year to spring of 2028.”.
Livingston noted that Oak Park voters decisively defeated a Park District of Oak Park referendum last spring.
“I think we should pay attention to that,” Livingston said. “I’m not saying it’s the same thing but I think it is something that we should consider.”
Livingston said he wants more time for the school and advocates of Act 3 to make their case.
“I think we need to be really, really very strategic, very thoughtful about what we’re getting into, about how we proceed,” Livingston said. “I want to engage in the community.”
Livingston said he wants to make sure that the referendum passes when it comes to a vote.
Gertz, who has expressed doubts about the scope of Act 3, said he prefers holding a referendum in November 2028 because that is the election that will have the highest turnout.
Brisben said delays in the completion of Project 2 have caused him to have doubts about the ability of the district’s architectural firm and general contractor to execute and he would like to see a “time out” on construction.
But Brandhorst said he saw no value in waiting until 2028. He said current spaces are sub-standard and even dangerous, and he wants new spaces for students and teachers as soon as possible.
“I believe the band room, in particular, is unsafe and that we send employees into that space every day,” Brandhorst said. “I think it’s unsafe for our students, I think it’s unsafe for our employees and I’m not interested in delaying a year or two in remedying that.”
Brandhorst said he recently saw renderings of the new spaces and was very impressed. He said that he thinks community members will also be impressed and will want to go forward.
“These are going to be learning spaces that our students deserve and they will be learning spaces that our faculty are going to be able to thrive in,” Brandhorst said.
Brandhorst said the community is well aware of the need and the stages of the Imagine plan so he questioned whether a delay of a year would really make much of a difference in the chance of a referendum passing.
“We’re going to have to trust our taxpayers, trust our voters, we just are, whether we go to referendum in April, or a year from April or a year and a half from April,” Brandhorst said. “We’re going to have trust the community and I do. … I trust our voters to do the right thing.”