At 1 a.m. Wednesday, a few weary school board members huddled within the Barrington school administration building, waiting for election results from one last precinct that carried a scrap of hope for their failing bond referendum proposal.
But when the numbers arrived from the Hanover Township precinct, which historically has treated the district’s requests kindly, it became apparent that voters had narrowly rejected providing $15.4 million for building projects.
Unofficial vote tallies show the Barrington Community School District 220 measure failed by 66 votes out of a 8,438 ballots cast.
“If anybody thinks your vote doesn’t count, here’s a case in point where it does,” said board member Thomas Krettler, one of the late-night stragglers. “That’s about one vote per precinct. That could have been one street down any neighborhood.”
District 220 earned the dubious honor of bucking the statewide trend, which turned out to be a record-setting election for education.
Illinois voters approved 66 percent of 27 school district tax-hike measures and 70 percent of 68 bond issues.
More Top Picks Best Blue Light Glasses For Kids
Officials with Elgin-based School District 46, pleased that voters supported their $200 million bond referendum, said they would begin immediately interviewing architects and prioritizing construction projects.
The vote freed the district to begin building eight schools and renovating dozens of others. A tentative schedule calls for the first three new elementary schools to open in August 2002, and three more to open the following year. Those schools will be in Hoffman Estates, Elgin and Bartlett.
A new middle school will open in South Elgin in August 2003, and a high school will open in South Elgin the following year.
In Barrington, board members said they expected a close vote, but were disappointed when the measure failed. Officials said they would consider another referendum in November, but only if citizens were included in the process.
The $15.4 million was to be used to complete construction projects at Barrington High School, Countryside Elementary and other schools earmarked for additions and renovations. Residents questioned why the projects could not be completed with $69.9 million from the 1998 bond referendum, which had been touted as the last for at least six years.
The failed proposal could also imperil completion of construction under way, including an addition at Sunnyhill School, roof work at Roslyn School, and ventilation improvements at Hough Street School.
“There’s a lot of skepticism among some in the community about how the projects have been handled to this point,” said board member Jeff Nordquist. “A better articulation to the community might have helped. Unfortunately, the devil is always in the details.”
Board member Edith Auchter agreed. “I’ve received any number of calls saying it’s not the money, it’s the issue of accountability and explanation from the board and the administration as to the (cost) overruns.
“You can spend a lot of time understanding the issue and seeing that what some call overruns were really an oversight due to a rushed engineer review.”
Some District 220 parents who attended Wednesday night’s school board meeting agreed.
Jeannie Hanson, parent of a pupil at Lines School, told the board that “you did the right thing to ask for more money . . . I hope this loss doesn’t deter the school board from asking for the money it needs.
“In Barrington there will always be `no’ votes,” Hanson said. “What we need to do is work harder to get the `yes’ votes out.”
Because of the closeness of the vote, the District 220 board could seek a recount, although officials said they had not discussed it.
According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, the district would first have to petition for a discovery recount, an information-gathering process that must be requested within 12 days of an election. To launch a discovery recount, the district would first have to prove that its side of the referendum proposal would have prevailed had it received 5 percent more votes, said Al Zimmer, the election board’s general counsel.
After that, the district could file to contest the election in Circuit Court if officials believed they had evidence to support a faulty vote count.
In the vote aftermath, board members were mulling over what to do on construction projects, some of which are halfway through and others not started.
Officials may decide to wait on such stand-alone projects as renovating the high school pool, improving locker rooms and building a theater. Instead, the money may be needed to pay for turning lanes and a traffic signal the village is requiring in front of the school, Nordquist said.