Park Ridge school board slashing at least $6 million out of facility improvement plan
A $98 million plan to renovate and expand buildings in Park Ridge-Niles School District 64 could be scaled back significantly before officials put the proposal to voters — if they do at all.
Changes discussed and tentatively approved by the school board during a committee-of-the-whole meeting last week would drop the plan’s price tag to about $92 million — a roughly 6% decrease.
The sum could decrease even further, district spokesman Chris Lilly said, depending on what playground upgrades officials opt to pursue.
School board members now favor using $2 million of the capital improvement funds to be set aside in the 2025 fiscal year’s budget to pay for some of the proposed improvements, rather than borrowing that sum.
Additionally, the board now wants to repair the foundation in the auditorium at Carpenter Elementary School rather than converting it to a multipurpose room, eliminate a proposed addition to Emerson Middle School’s music room, reduce the scope of a renovation to that room, keep the furniture at Emerson rather than replacing it, and delay renovating Emerson’s industrial arts classroom suite.
“These are very tough conversations,” board President Dr. Denise Pearl said on the district’s website. “We’re making choices with what we think is the best information we have to give us the best probability of passing.”
The school board is expected to decide Aug. 15 whether to ask voters in November to approve borrowing money for districtwide construction plans.
The cash would fund health, safety, and security upgrades throughout the district; mechanical and infrastructure improvements; classroom and science lab upgrades; and more.
The $98 million proposal would have required the owner of a house valued at $500,000 to pay an estimated $488 more in taxes to the district the first year, officials have said. The potential tax impact of the revised $92 million plan wasn’t available Wednesday.
A recording of the board’s discussion of the plan is available online at youtube.com/@d64boemeetings.