FAQs

Throughout the past year, our community has collaborated on a plan for the future of our schools. Together, we reviewed our facility needs and how to overcome our infrastructure and funding challenges.

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.

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 and 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, like what is done elsewhere such as Lake Zurich. All of this leads to an even higher quality school district, which leads to higher property values for our residents, and a stronger community.

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 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.

Barrington 220 continues 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.

The final $64 million community-driven plan would cost the average district household an additional $236 per year. Please utilize the tax calculator below to determine your tax impact.

To achieve the improvements desired by our community, the Barrington 220 Board of Education voted unanimously to place the following referendum question on the ballot in the upcoming November 5 general election:

“Shall the Board of Education of Barrington Community Unit School District Number 220, Lake, Cook, Kane and McHenry Counties, Illinois, build and equip an auditorium and an addition at the Barrington High School Building; alter, repair and equip existing buildings, including but not limited to installing safety
and security improvements, improving STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) labs, science classrooms, fine arts classrooms and music rooms, installing energy-efficient mechanical systems and replacing windows, doors and flooring; improve school sites; and issue bonds of said School District to the amount of $64,000,000 for the purpose of paying the costs thereof?”

You can vote in the November 5 election if you are a U.S. citizen, you will be 18 years old by election day, and if you have been a resident of your precinct at least 30 days prior to election day. You must be a registered voter, and you may register to vote online through the Illinois State Board of Elections website.

• Vote By Mail: You may request a vote-by-mail application through the following websites
   
  • Cook County
  • Lake County
  • McHenry County
  • Kane County
     
• In-Person Early Voting:
   
  • Cook County (Begins Oct. 9)
  • Lake County (Begins Sept. 26)
  • McHenry County (Begins Sept. 26)
  • Kane County (Begins Sept. 26)
     
• In-Person Election Day: Nov. 5. Click below to find your polling place location
   
  • Cook County
  • Lake County
  • McHenry County
  • Kane County

Bonds will only be used to fund needed infrastructure projects. By law, these funds must only be used for that purpose because referendum language is legally binding. We will continue to fund salaries and benefits out of our standard operating budget. Any funds approved by the community for their schools will be 100% invested in improving our school infrastructure.

After a successful referendum on November 5, 2024, the district would immediately begin working with its architects and engineers to develop detailed project plans and drawings. Major construction would likely begin the summer of 2026 and would happen in phases over several years. Every effort would be made to complete construction in a way that minimizes the impact while students are in attendance.

On March 17, 2020 registered voters in the Barrington 220 community overwhelmingly passed a $147 million bond referendum, which will greatly impact the future of our schools. The question was approved by more than 60% of voters.