Northbrook School District 27

Referendum

At Northbrook School District 27, we are educating students to succeed in a changing world.

Upcoming Sessions

Our district has a long-standing tradition of excellence in education. Our parents, staff, and students partner together to reach and even exceed the high expectations set by our community. Here in our small district, where everyone feels like family, we all get joy out of helping every child prepare for their bright future. That’s why our schools feel like private schools in a public-school setting.
 
This collaborative work has made our district one of the highest-achieving districts in the entire state of Illinois. Our student test scores are in the top 1% in the state, and our students' math and ELA proficiency are among the highest in the North Shore and double the state average. Compared to similar districts nationwide, our student, parent, and staff satisfaction ratings rank in the 98th and 99th percentile in nearly every category.
 
We have achieved this while maintaining a healthy financial position and spending within our means. We operate with a balanced budget, maintain a reasonable fund balance, and have no long-term debt. We prioritize educating students, spending 55% of our funds on classroom instruction compared to a state average of 46%. We respect the public’s tax dollars by working aggressively to contain costs, reducing expenses by $5.5 million, and keeping parent fees as low as possible. Our fiscal responsibility has earned awards of excellence in financial reporting for 15 consecutive years.

However, if we are going to be able to maintain small class sizes while providing our students and teachers with learning environments that support high achievement, we will need additional funding. 

  • Our recent Health-Life Safety report identified nearly $17 million in state-mandated improvements that we are required to address.

  • Classroom furniture and fixtures are outdated, with the majority last replaced decades ago.

  • Classrooms need updated and integrated technology to continue to deliver the district’s rigorous curriculum and instruction.

  • Our district has invested millions in school safety and security, but it can be improved even further.

  • We don’t have enough space to meet community demand for early childhood programming and special education, forcing us to place many students in programs outside the district to meet their needs.

  • Parking lots have reached the end of their life cycle and require replacement, and we can enhance safety and reduce traffic congestion during student pick-up and drop-off.

Through our preventative maintenance program, we have successfully extended the life expectancy of all facilities and grounds for as long as possible. For over two decades, we have reinvested our fund balance into building maintenance, renovations, and improvements. In fact, over the past five years we’ve spent $13.5 million to address facility needs. However, we can no longer keep up due to significantly increasing construction costs and the fact that we get limited support from state and federal sources, with local funding making up 94% of our budget compared to a state average of 64%.

That’s why our community has come together to develop a long-term plan that sustainably addresses our facility needs. Over the past year, we collaborated on a community-driven plan for the future of our schools. This consensus plan will appear on our ballots in the upcoming April 1st election to establish a debt service extension base (DSEB) for the district at $2.655 million, which would result in an annual tax increase of $422 for the average homeowner. This would allow the district to:
  • Sustainably Address Our Facility Needs
  • Make Our Schools Even Safer
  • Improve Learning Environments for All Students

The plan will allow our district to address our facility needs now and into the future in a sustainable and responsible way. Our district does not have a DSEB while most other districts in the state have access to this funding source, including most of our surrounding districts. Funding our needed infrastructure improvements through a DSEB instead of traditional bonds ensures a long-term funding source, providing a sustainable solution to the district’s immediate and ongoing infrastructure needs. It also allows us to issue bonds as funding is needed for specific projects rather than all at once, resulting in significant interest cost savings for taxpayers. As a result, our community overwhelmingly chose this funding mechanism during community engagement by over a three-to-one margin.

The plan will make our schools safer by improving infrastructure throughout the district. We will be able to address immediate infrastructure and mechanical needs at all schools, including roofing, HVAC replacements, and electrical system upgrades. We will be able to install interior, police-accessible security cameras and improve access control inside our buildings using key fobs to create a more secure environment for students and teachers. We will also be able to make our parking and student drop-off safer and more efficient by adding lanes and increasing parking spaces at Wood Oaks.

The plan will ensure every student learns in an environment that supports high achievement. We will be able to upgrade classroom technology and wireless infrastructure to enhance learning opportunities for all students. We will be able to make significant upgrades to classroom furniture at all schools to support 21st-century learning environments for students. We will construct four additional classrooms at Hickory Point to house early childhood, special education, and daycare programs to provide enough space to meet community demand. We will also create additional multi-use space at Hickory Point for PE, lunch, and after-school programming use.

This sustainable and responsible plan addresses our challenges now and into the future, ensuring our schools continue to meet our community’s high expectations. Our facilities will not hold us back, allowing us to continue delivering the highest education level to our students. In addition, families will continue to want to move here, keeping us competitive and further increasing property values for residents.