In a conversation continued from a previous board meeting, Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 Board of Education members said they will delay adding a referendum question to ballots pertaining to funding Act 3, the school’s next phase of Imagine OPRF, the school’s multiyear project plan, until March 2028.
The board did not vote on the matter during its Oct. 22 meeting, but reached a consensus to delay seeking a referendum, a move that was initially eyed for the election this spring.
The question will ask Oak Parkers to raise taxes to fund the initiative, but the specific amount of funding the district is asking for and wording of the referendum question is yet to be determined.
The date was originally pushed for the upcoming April elections but was delayed due to economic uncertainties.
“The April 2027 election will occur less than five months after Project 2’s full opening, amid uncertain local, regional, and national economic conditions,” superintendent Greg Johnson and assistant superintendent for business services Tony Arbogast wrote in a memo to the board. “As a result, the administrative team recommends that the board reach consensus on establishing March 21, 2028 as the definitive date to have the Act 3 referendum question on the ballot.”
Act 3 is expected to focus on the performing arts and physical education spaces at the school. Current learning spaces are undersized, fail to meet accessibility requirements, don’t meet sound-safety standards and lack storage space and practice rooms, school officials said. New construction is set to replace century-old facilities at the southwest end of the building with new facilities for all music classes, a black-box theatre and new PE spaces.
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Board officials were in agreement to delay the referendum.
“I think that is very prudent,” said Kathleen Odell, the board’s vice president. “It allows us time to plan, it allows us to get through, as mentioned, this period of economic uncertainty.”
Another potential time to add the question during the next two years is in the fall of 2028 during the presidential election.
Board member Josh Gertz said he would lean towards having the question on the ballot in the fall, when there will be more public engagement, but was open to putting it on the spring ballots, too.
Similarly to Gertz, Jonathan Livingston, the board secretary, indicated he was “uncomfortable” putting the ballot on the upcoming ballot and said officials should seek more opportunities for engagement with the community.
“I think it would be folly to rush to a referendum in spring of 2027,” Livingston said. “I think the risk is too great, I far prefer to delay a year, spring of 2028. I just think it’s responsible. ”
Act 3 is expected to take two years of construction and cost north of $84 million.
There is no set date for when construction will begin as it would be tied to a successful referendum. If the referendum is passed in 2028, the earliest date to begin construction would be summer 2029 with construction being completed in 2031.
“I think that our students and our faculty deserve to have these improvements at the earliest possible date, but certainly if the consensus is spring of 2028, I can live with that,” said board member Tim Brandhorst.