With one victory under their belt, supporters of new schools and building improvements in Barrington Unit School District 220 want to repeat their winning formula.
That formula, which helped the district sell a $19.4 million bond issue to voters after two failed attempts, included bringing critics to the negotiating table and presenting the building costs to voters in smaller doses.
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Voters on Tuesday approved the bond sale to raise funds to pay for two new elementary schools and improvements to the middle school.
Now, the work begins for the next referendum proposal, expected to be on the March 1998 ballot.
“Next time, we’ll be looking at improvements for Barrington High School and the remaining seven elementary schools, and we’re starting today,” District 220 Supt. John Schockmel said Wednesday.
“Once again, we’ll form a citizens committee, and we’ll get the architects ready to work on the costs,” Schockmel said, adding that the second round of improvements could cost $50 million to $53 million.
The $19.4 million bond sale approved Tuesday will increase school property taxes by about 2 percent.
The Barrington schools have been working with large figures as they try to keep pace with a growing student population.
In 1995, voters rejected a referendum proposal to finance $112 million in school improvements. Last year, voters shot down a plan for $92 million in improvements.
Critics said both plans were too expensive.
“Those were grandiose plans. The failure of those referendums was a tribute to the horrible management in District 220,” said Tom Roeser, a vocal critic of the previous referendums proposals.
This time, however, Roeser supported the tax hike.
“They finally did not get what they wanted, but what the community wanted,” he said.
Gilbert Kamm, a member of the citizens committee for the most recent referendum proposal, had voted against the $112 million request. He said that amount was excessive, even as hundreds of new students were squeezed into 11 tightly packed schools.
In each of the past five years, 235 new pupils have enrolled, on average, in the district, which straddles Cook, Kane, Lake and McHenry Counties and serves 12 communities.
Once on the citizens committee, however, Kamm said he became convinced of the need for improvements, though in smaller doses.
“The results Tuesday were just a start. We still have a long way to go. We need another referendum for more money,” he said.
The Barrington referendum was one of six approved in Lake County, while five referendums failed, unofficial results showed.
There seemed to be few common themes. Four school referendums were approved, and three failed.
Voters in Winthrop Harbor School District 1 voted against issuing $5.8 million in bonds to renovate two schools and to build a junior high school.
Diamond Lake School District 76 voters shot down an educational tax rate hike, as did Fox Lake School District 114 voters.
But in Gurnee, voters agreed to sell $23 million in bonds to demolish portions of Spaulding Elementary School and Viking Middle School and then to build additions.
Hawthorn School District 73 voters easily approved an $11.5 million bond sale to build a new junior high school and remodel a middle school.
Voters in North Shore School District 112, covering parts of Highwood, Highland Park and Deerfield, approved a $40 million bond proposal to help finance renovations, additions and a new school.
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While the Lake Bluff Mosquito Abatement District adopted its proposal to raise taxes, a local Park District plan to issue $5.9 million in bonds to build a community center narrowly was defeated.
The Wheeling Park District approved a proposal authorizing an additional property tax of 7.5 cents per $100 of assessed valuation to renovate the 70-year-old Chevy Chase Country Club.
And in Gurnee, voters overwhelmingly defeated a plan to issue $15 million in bonds to fund a recreation, fitness and aquatics center.