Some Oak Park-area taxpayers are voicing skepticism as District 200 makes plans for a second phase of renovations at Oak Park and River Forest High School.
While several local residents posting on social media have criticized the district’s high level of reserve funds and a proposed new swimming pool and 600-seat natatorium, among other aspects, school officials say they are taking time to design and fund appropriate upgrades for the nearly 100-year-old building.
In a continuation of its 10-year Facilities Master Plan, District 200 currently is considering “Project 2,” which would build a four-story physical education and athletics wing, a 40-by-25 yard swimming pool, a 600-seat natatorium and other components.
With a yet-undetermined cost that could range around $65 million, the capital improvements under consideration follow a largely completed $36 million first phase (Project 1), which included a building addition and numerous other renovations.
One long-standing criticism leveled by some taxpayers has been over the district’s cash reserves, or fund balance, that has hovered around $90 million in recent years. According to the District 200 website, nine months of backup funds usually are banked “for cash flow purposes.”
However, another section of the same website contains an Illinois Association of School Business Officials “Fund Balance White Paper” citing an Illinois State Board of Education minimum of just three months’ fund balance, or 25% of annual expenditures, required to qualify for its highest financial profile score.
“In District 200, that would be $20 to 23 million,” said Monica Sheehan, a longtime Oak Park resident and former OPRF school parent. “A fund balance above that amount is simply not a best practice. What they should do, morally, is return the money beyond the 25% annual operating expenses back to taxpayers.”
Pledging to utilize the funds on the new renovations, D200 Superintendent of Schools Gregory Johnson acknowledged this week that the current cash reserves were about 100% of yearly operating costs.
“We absolutely have a responsibility to spend down our fund balance,” Johnson said. “That’s exactly what we’ll be trying to do with Project 2, in the most responsible way we can. But because this is a significantly large capital project, we are going to do our due diligence and bring a schematic design to the Board this fall.”
Although formulation of the master plan included several community engagement sessions, Sheehan and others also have leveled criticism that taxpayers have not had a more direct voice in the renovation decisions.
“Major capital projects should be decided by all the district voters, not just the seven school board members,” Sheehan said.
Johnson said the multi-year planning process that yielded the facilities plan “was a community-wide conversation that gathered input from a large number of people, not just those on the committee. Feedback came from a wide variety of stakeholders, with surveys, interviews, focus groups and countless conversations.
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“For those who say any type of project like this needs to go to the voters, we absolutely know, without a doubt, that we must be as fiscally responsible as we can be, which is why we’re taking the time right now with this design phase,” he said.
– Original Credit: Handout
In addition to nine School Board or Committee of the Whole meetings, 11 other internal committee meetings are planned between now and when a final vote on the schematic design of Project 2 is to take place, in October, according to a schedule on the district website.
The element causing the greatest amount of discussion and concern about Project 2 likely has been the swimming pool component.
District officials say two existing pools that were built in 1928 have exhausted their useful life, and a new, larger pool should be installed.
At its March 24 meeting, the Board of Education unanimously approved spending $933,188 for what a consultant report described as “immediate repair” needed in coming months for the two pools.
In addition to the new pool and natatorium, the Project 2 upgrades will include a new wing to be built on the site of an existing corner of the school, after it is demolished. The new four-story addition with basement will have a gymnasium, dance room, weight room, locker and changing rooms, an elevator and other spaces.
Although Sheehan and other critics have stated that renovations without demolishing any of the building would be less expensive, District 200 Executive Director of Operations Ronald Anderson wrote in a memo to the school board that such an alternative would fall short of adequately addressing student needs.
“It’s expensive to have a pool, especially since maintenance has been deferred for over seven years,” Sheehan said. “The other Project 2 elements could be achieved through renovations that would reasonably cost less than the District’s estimate. The reality is that the demolition and rebuilding costs in Project 2 are mostly pool and natatorium-associated.”
Johnson pointed out that it’s been 60 years since the last time any substantive renovation has been done to the school.
“We’re taking a very student-focused, needs-based approach to figuring out how we’re going to proceed, and that’s understandable because I’m a taxpayer in this community too,” he said. “This work certainly will need to be addressed with our fund balance in some way, but it’s still too early to know what the numbers will be. We have work to do.”