Dist. 220 has money to fix facilities

Barrington Area Unit District 220 is growing closer to finding solutions for its major facility needs.

School board members spent several hours Tuesday reviewing the district's five-year financial projections and determined that, for the first time in years, there is money available to spend on facility needs.

Those include a new middle school and early learning center and renovations at Station Middle School.

"We have some ability now to spend probably enough money to solve the early-childhood (problems) or do the Station renovations," said board President Brian Battle. "It would be really difficult to do both though."

Chief Financial Officer Gary Frisch said the district estimates it will cost about $14 million to address the early-childhood space needs and another $17 million for the renovations at Station.

The district should end the school year with $40.6 million in reserves, Frisch estimated. That's 36.7 percent of its expected revenue for the year.

The goal, he said, is to maintain the reserve funds at 25 percent of expected yearly revenue.

In the past, the district has turned to the community to get the early-childhood situation and Station renovation issues solved -- in the form of three referendum requests in recent years, all of which failed.

But Superintendent Tom Leonard said the reserve funds are now in a position that could allow some of these projects to be completed without voter approval.

"The board is faced with some difficult decisions, but it is nice that we have some fiscal strength right now that gives us some more options," he said.

With not enough money to pay for all the projects, Leonard said the board still must prioritize its needs.

"The key piece is determining which of our facility concerns we will address (first)," Leonard said.

District 220 has spent several years trying to find a new home for the early-childhood program and reduce crowding at the middle school level by building new schools.

While the board didn't discuss specific places it's considering for the early-childhood program, in the past members have considered moving all or half the state-mandated program to Grove School in Barrington.

An addition would be built at Grove to accommodate that.

If only half the program was moved to Grove, Leonard said the other half would be kept at Woodland School in Carpentersville, which now houses the early learning center. Under that scenario, Woodland would be renovated.

But other options are also under consideration, Battle said.

"There are options that are continuing to present themselves," he said, without giving specifics.

Battle added the board will continue its discussions and possibly start making some decisions at its next meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Barrington High School.