Our communities take great pride in our Barrington 220 schools, for good reason. We continue to be one of the highest-rated school districts in the state as we empower personal excellence in every learner.It’s our hometown, community feel that helps make us unique. We work together to ensure all our children receive a top-notch education in inclusive learning environments while meeting their social emotional needs. We are consistently ranked as one of the best school districts in Illinois, earning the title of 2nd Best Unit District in Illinois in Niche’s 2024 ratings, and our high school was named one of the best high schools in the nation in the 2024 US News & World Report rankings.
We've achieved all this while continuing to honor our community's commitment to fiscal responsibility. Our Board of Education and administration are good stewards of the public’s tax dollars, spending less than half the state average on administrative costs and maintaining a responsible fund balance that is more conservative than many districts. This allows our district to have one of the lowest tax rates of all peer school districts. We are in our 27th consecutive year of a balanced budget with a AAA bond rating from S&P, one of only 88 school districts nationwide to earn that recognition.
Thanks to the community’s support for our referendum in 2020, our Build 220 initiative has made tremendous progress at renovating our aging school buildings. However, that plan only funded 25% of our district’s overall capital investment needs of $500-$600 million. The district maintains approximately 1.4 million square feet of facilities, which is similar to maintaining 700 homes! The spaces inside many of our buildings have not been addressed in decades, including the east side of our high school campus, and much work is still needed to ensure our students learn in schools that meet our community’s high expectations.
One of the biggest requests from the community continues to be a new auditorium at the high school. This has been a need for many years, and it was identified as one of the top needs by the 4,000 stakeholders who participated in our Framework 220 strategic planning process. The current antiquated auditorium has aged to the point where it is nearly unusable. Built in 1960, it still has much of the original equipment and seats that were made in 1948. It’s not ADA compliant, the power supply doesn’t allow for the lighting and design available to much smaller districts, and the chairs can no longer be repaired. Safety is also a concern, with old lights shorting out, catwalks not compliant with current code, and a small lobby that leads to overcrowding. In addition, theater attendees walk through our school building to reach the auditorium and share bathrooms with our students, neither of which is ideal.
For a district that takes so much pride in our schools, we must do better. With most students throughout the district using the high school auditorium multiple times per year, our entire district would benefit from a new auditorium. Our high school offers such great arts programming we even have graduates on Broadway—imagine what opportunities we could provide our students if we provided them an adequate space with modern technology. And our entire community would benefit, as so many service organizations and community groups look to use that space.
That's why more than 2,500 community members collaborated throughout 2024 on a plan to address these challenges. The district then worked to make that plan even more efficient and fiscally responsible, saving taxpayers $11.5 million. The final $64 million community-driven plan would cost the average district household an additional $236 per year. This plan will now go to the community for final approval in the upcoming November 5th election.
If successful, the referendum will:
- Increase Safety & Security throughout Barrington 220
- Build a New Community Auditorium at Barrington High School
- Enhance STEAM and Instructional Spaces for Students
The referendum will increase safety and security at all Barrington 220 schools. This includes lockdown features throughout the district and utilizing keycard access to provide a more secure environment for students and teachers. It also includes safer and more energy efficient mechanical systems at the high school, safer and more energy efficient doors and windows at all schools, and improved flooring.
The referendum will fulfill the community’s long-standing desire to build a new auditorium at Barrington High School. This new, larger, and safer auditorium will be a modern, accessible space with current technology that will accommodate performing arts education, PK-12+ school events, and expanded community rentals.
The referendum will also enhance STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) spaces and programming at the high school and middle schools, providing all students optimized learning spaces for collaboration and hands-on instruction. This includes new larger rooms for STEAM courses at Barrington High School and modernized science lab classrooms at all middle schools to effectively implement current and future curriculum. It also includes improved fine arts, visual arts, performing arts, applied arts, music, and career pathway areas at Barrington High School as well as increased arts programming and opportunities for students.
The community’s plan for the future of our schools would ensure all Barrington 220 students have access to the quality education they deserve. It would allow us to alleviate safety concerns, address accessibility, improve programming, and increase opportunities for all our students. We could better protect the community’s investment in our buildings. And we could safely support the community’s desire to use our high school for more events. All of this leads to an even higher quality school district, which leads to higher property values for our residents, and a stronger community.