Daily Herald opinion: The pursuit of trust: School district must be well-prepared before floating expensive referendum

When Superintendent Scott Rowe said last month that Northwest Suburban High School District 214 officials would “review all financial options” for proposed facility upgrades, he wasn’t kidding.

But the officials surely also knew that the proposal to spend more than $900 million would not likely attract a lot of takers. Perhaps, they also were not surprised last week to find that a majority of respondents to phone, in-person and online surveys considered the lowest proposed alternative — $400 million — to be most palatable.

Exploratory surveys are one thing, of course, and voter responses to referendum issues quite another. So, now school leaders face the central question of whether they should indeed bring a ballot proposal to the community and, if so, for what projects — and they have barely more than three weeks to decide.

Interestingly, one District 214 school board member offered observations on the matter that both questioned its timing and affirmed its need. Frank Fiarito told fellow members he has seen “firsthand how bad some of our facilities are in certain places,” and he fretted that certain issues might have been addressed years ago but he nonetheless wants more community meetings before committing to a referendum.

That seemingly contradictory reflection suggests the challenge facing the district — can officials demonstrate within the space of the next four months sufficient need and urgency to persuade wary voters to support hundreds of millions of dollars in borrowing with hundreds of dollars added to their tax bills every year?

To some degree, it is an unenviable position for the district, but it does emphasize the importance of connecting with the community and earning its trust. Many skeptics will surely feel that proposing at the outset the potential for upgrades approaching $1 billion may have had the intent of softening voters’ attitudes toward requests later on that could fall in the still-significant range of a half-billion dollars or more.

So, even at a substantial decrease from some wildly expensive “ideal,” the district’s leaders will have a big job garnering the support they need. They have itemized a fairly detailed list of projects to complete, but the community at large no doubt needs to learn more about all of them.

Does that foreclose the possibility of deciding by Dec. 11 to float a referendum? Not necessarily; but, it does emphasize how much would need to be accomplished by March 17.

“We are listening,” Rowe said at last week’s school board meeting, “and the feedback really, really matters.”

The voters will be listening, too, or should be. When school leaders do settle on when to pose a referendum and how much to seek, they should be prepared to provide detailed, candid answers.