By: Nick Binotti and Ted Dabrowski
Every year, dozens of school districts across the state add bond referendums to local election ballots asking for more taxpayer money – for tens or hundreds of millions of dollars each – for a variety of renovation and construction projects.
With so much money at stake and Illinoisans already paying the 2nd-highest property taxes in the country, it should be really difficult to get such projects approved.
But the reality is many bond offerings and tax hikes get passed because of the cottage industry of district administrators, teacher unions, architectural firms, construction firms and financial advisors working together to pass those referendums. Proponents have a well-oiled machine in place to organize everything ahead of time – from financing to ground-game to messaging – so any opposition is handicapped before debate even starts.
Yes, many school referendums are necessary or even essential in some cases. But the process for getting them passed is part and parcel of the machine politics Illinois is so well-known for.
You should know the Goliath you’re up against and plan accordingly, because proponent advantages are numerous:
- The pro-referendum side has a head start and is far more organized, typically with the formation of a ballot committee and teacher union support.
- The pro-referendum side has far more financial resources, often coming directly from the teachers’ unions, as well as the construction and architectural firms that benefit.
- The referendums usually occur during local or primary elections – which have tiny voter turnout – giving special interest voters far more sway.
- Proponents can push a referendum year after year until it’s finally passed.
One example playing out in the suburbs
Wilmette’s Avoca School District 37, led by Superintendent Kaine Osburn, has a $90 million bond referendum on the March 2024 ballot to replace or upgrade aging schools. Supporters have a ballot committee and they have an architect in place.
To understand how the referendum in Avoca might play out, let’s go back to 2017.
Back then, Osburn was superintendent at Lake Zurich School District 95 and was pushing a $77 million referendum for school renovations. Osburn said large-scale upgrades were required for the district’s buildings to be on par with “21st century learning skills.”
A ballot committee was formed to help drum up financial support. It collected more than $60,000 in contributions, $20,000 of which from construction and engineering firms, $10,000 from DLA Architects and another $7,000 from the local teachers union.
That money was mostly spent on yard signs, mailers, walk cards, consulting, polling, etc. and the referendum passed.
That won Osburn some benefits. The Chicago Tribune reported Osburn “was rewarded for his part in a successful $77.6 million building referendum at Lake Zurich Community Unit School District 95 after board members granted him a salary raise and contributed to his retirement fund.”
He also won a new superintendent job at Avoca.
And now Avoca is pursuing its own referendum. We do not have a position on the merits of the proposed construction, but we note architect firm DLA has donated $8,000. And a Parent/Teacher Council has donated $10,000.
More cases
The above has played out time and again in Illinois. Here are a few more examples:
In 2020, an Itasca School District 10 pro-referendum group collected a total of $50,100 in support of their initiative. $50,000 came from the school’s local teachers union. That money went towards yard signs, mailings, consulting, phone banking, etc. all in support of the referendum. It passed.
Pennoyer School District 79 in Norridge had a pro-referendum initiative in which the teachers union contributed a staggering $73,000 and architectural firm DLA contributed $7,000. While the 2020 referendum was voted down, it was reintroduced and passed in 2023.
When Prospect Heights School District 23 put a referendum to voters last year to increase the limiting tax rate, the largest contributors to the “yes” side were an educational architectural firm, a contractor, and a firm that specializes in getting referendums passed – i.e. the cottage industry devoted to helping government agencies pass tax hikes.
Surprisingly, this one failed, but it’s on the ballot again this election.
On and on it goes.
Uphill battle
Even local bond referendums in Illinois are influenced by powerful and deep-pocketed players. Your local teachers union can hit up their wealthy mother union for additional support at any time, as was the case in Pennoyer.
And when the teachers union doesn’t contribute, private firms that benefit from infrastructure spending are more than willing to make up the difference.
The odds are heavily stacked in favor of passage, but more referendums than you’d think end up failing. Between 2006 and 2018, over 40 percent of school district bond referendums lost.
Mounting a ground-game with good messaging should push that number even higher.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Full cost to Illinoisans of uncontrolled border coming into view
- Education fail: Not a single child tested proficient in math in 67 Illinois schools. For reading, it’s 32 schools.
- Loss of 225,000 students since 2010 helps confirm Illinois is losing people
- Chicago Public Schools’ twisted goal: End selective enrollment schools while keeping nearly empty, failing schools open
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
I think Mark Glennon read your article… https://www.myjournalcourier.com/opinion/article/the-realities-challenging-bond-referendum-18713919.php
I’m glad I found this page, this same thing is happening in our School District. Lockport Township High School D205 $85 Million Referendum to renovate a 220,000 sq ft Freshman Building. The Architect on the project is DLA. They seem to have their hand in everyone’s pocket. They bet small amounts of money to campaign for all these schools, in order to win Huge contracts. This seems like unethical practice.
Folks it’s over! There is no fixing Illinois!
Sell your property and burn rubber while you still can. Living in Illinois is a waste of life
Should the focus be changed to the basis of the FEDERAL tax exemption for muni-bonds? See, e.g., https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/reexamining-tax-exemption-municipal-bond-interest/ The notion that bond issues should be approved by politicians with self-interest and/or by public union voters in low-turnout elections does not protect taxpayers who are the ultimate source of repayment — except perhaps “revenue bonds” which frequently don’t benefit the citizens of the issuing municipality. It seems to me that the IRS could refocus on protecting the clueless public rather than the institutional bondholders participating in the current system and enriching the so-called guardians who skim their exorbitant fees at the… Read more »
See https://youtu.be/k6eC8t14uGE This video helped us stop CUSD200 2013 referendum… Third try it passed for the preschool only with a promise of no new borrowing. They didn’t tell the whole truth. Rather than bonds they called it “lease certificates” to be paid back out of current income. There is another video, I’m not finding, of Jim Mathieson explaining tax structure – new levy is based on last year’s operating budget + inflation (capped) + whatever it takes pay interest & principle on bonds for the year. Mathieson had started out thinking the board needed to watch spending. But, once he… Read more »
Would love to see you research the whole back door referendum process thar never even goes to a vote but regularly ends up on taxpayers property tax bills. People think I made it up when I tell them.
oops my follow up comments tent as a reply to “Old Joe”
The next push will be for the chilren….undocumented chilren!
One problem that will very likely bring about is the dumbing down of the curriculum in order to try to get many children through various grade levels that they probably would be better off repeating. Schools in many areas have adopted such tactics, much to the detriment of the more capable students. They are left less prepared for college.
You need a team to watch your district’s agendas. On a regular board meeting they must include a bond issue without referendum on the agenda and then approve it. The community has 30 days to collect signatures to force a real referendum. Quantity depends upon voter turn-out in the past election. Your district should be able to give you the number and format for your petitins.
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Found my old notes. The law allows school districts to borrow money via a “back-door referendum”. D200 did that in March 2014 when they issued $10 million in bonds, without a referendum. Stopping the “back-door referendum” and requiring an actual referendum will require the citizens collecting about 6,000 signatures in 30 days – that will take an army. Anyone interested in helping? It is do-able if those who are tired of high property taxes – those who send their children to private school, home-school, or don’t have children in school would help. . In a nutshell what the district is doing. * Approved new… Read more »
Also keep in mind – a lot of what gets proposed in these upgrades for bond referendums are Over the Top – unnecessary additions or renovations that could be remedied for a lot less money than what they propose. A good cleaning and some paint is all that would be needed in some instances. New School Buildings or Upgraded Buildings Do not Improve student performance and the data proves it. But the article hits the nail on the head – we are up against Goliath – and they use our own money to bleed more out of us. These people… Read more »
“In the first place God made idiots. This was for practice. Then he made school boards.” – Mark Twain The Oak Park IL D200 board, despite the board president and three other. members having previously said publicly that they supported taking the pool replacement issue to referendum, the board instead contorted itself into purposely bypassing a referendum for their $102 million plan. They ignored their own better qualified (by education, training and professional finance roles) financial committee, which twice recommended that the enormous expense be put to referendum and funded through bonds, not debt certificates paid from the operating fund.… Read more »
Similar problem in Evanston, tho probably no pool was involved. It’s been documented pretty well at foiagras, and local papers.
The bond referendums are doubled edged swords. Many of these schools are old and are in need of a refresh to meet modern standards. My own district’s schools had not been updated since the 1960’s. Increased security is a non-negotiable must after the insane amount of school shootings. Modern lunchrooms, new lockers, better layouts, etc. Newer schools tend to attract parents and kids who are more interested in education. Last year a viral video went out with millions of view of students giving a tour of the new Carmel Indiana High School with pools, labs, cafeterias, varsity gyms, etc. It’s… Read more »
The same thing in Belvidere. There was an expectation of rapid growth which never materialized so they decided to build a second high school. They could have added rooms to the original high school which had plenty of room to do so. There was some growth but the 2008 downturn stopped it in it’s tracks. https://schooldesigns.com/Projects/belvidere-north-high-school/ Here are the stats for Belvidere https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/illinois/districts/belvidere-community-unified-school-district-100/belvidere-high-school-6493 This also happened in Hononegah school district 207 with the dome collapse. The dome was insured and could have been replaced with insurance money but officials decided to replace it with a $44M field house with voter… Read more »
District 67 in Morton Grove tried the same thing. They failed for a 21st century learning placing a prek to 8 school on their smaller of 2 school lots and selling the middle school. Which another District in MG is trying to buy back their old land they sold years ago because they are tight on space.
This article is spot on, and partially explains why property tax bills have gotten so high in Illinois. I remember one upper middle class high school district that wanted a large expansion plan approved. They had all their ducks lined up, from financing to architectural designs and permitting approvals. Right before the bond issue appeared on the ballot they installed mobile classroom units adjacent to one of the high schools on the main street in town. There were other options but they played on the emotions of the residents (what about the kids!). Weeks after of the election the mobile… Read more »
I’m sure all the crazy # of 852 Illinois school districts (or however many there are???) has to make the situation exponentially complicated.