Schools

D. 225 May Reduce Staff, Raise Fees to Trim Budget

The school board recently reviewed a plan to streamline the budget and save up to $1.6 million over the next two years by reducing some staff members through attrition and raising some student fees.

District 225’s board of education is considering budget cuts totaling $1.6 million over the next two years, including a small reduction in staff.

At a board meeting Monday, District 225 Assistant Superintendent of Business Hilarie Siena presented a list of reductions that would save the district approximately $626,000 in fiscal year 2012. She also recommended that the district should attempt to make another $1 million in cuts for fiscal year 2013. 

“The district will continue to face financial challenges due to an unstable economy and projected student enrollment growth,” Siena said in a press release, describing the reductions as a “proactive way for maintaining financial stability over the next two years.”

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The cuts represent just a small percentage of the total budget in District 225, which comes to approximately $98 million in expenditures and $98 million in revenue for fiscal year 2012.

Among other cuts, the district would reduce its total staffing levels in 2012-13 by three full-time positions and one part-time position at and three full-time positions and one part-time position at .

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District 225 spokesperson Karen Geddeis explained that those cuts, which will be made in fiscal year 2013, do not necessarily mean the loss of eight total employees.

“It might not be actual positions,” Geddeis said. Rather, each school would be able to determine where it makes those cuts, whether it be to reduce the hours and therefore save costs on certain employees or to eliminate positions altogether.

Other possible cuts include freezing the district’s budget for building projects so that it does not increase based on the consumer price index each year and reducing paper and mailing costs.

District 225 has already saved approximately $2.2 million since 2010, according to Geddeis. Those savings have come through increased student fees for drivers’ education and parking stickers, among other expenses. The district has also cut its energy costs by improving efficiency and implemented convenience fees to anyone making credit card transactions online.

“When we look for areas to reduce, we try to avoid direct services to our students whenever possible,” Superintendent Mike Riggle said in the press release.

According to Geddeis, the district currently maintains about 64 percent of its budget in reserve funds, well above the board’s goal of 33 percent.

But, she said, the district must consider trimming its budget in order to meet projected rising costs from such factors as student enrollment, teacher pay and inflation.

“We do these reductions so we can maintain the fund balance,” she said. “We know that there are things like pension reform and all that going on in the state.”

As the board considers budget reductions, Geddeis said at Glenbrook North and South is still on track. Funding for the fields is planned to come in part from donations and from money the district already has in reserve. Some $900,000 for the total cost will come from the district’s reserve for capital projects, while another $500,000 will come from each school’s building project fund. The district will also use $1.2 million from bonds taken out in 2006 under the federally subsidized Build America program. 

Turf is scheduled to be installed at Glenbrook South this summer, and at Glenbrook North the following summer. Administrators have already generated interest in sponsorships from community members, she added, which are expected to generate about $400,000 toward the total cost.

“The principals have been out with the boosters talking with community organizations that have demonstrated interest in purchasing logo display,” she said. “That looks like a pretty strong option at this point."

Editor's Note: We have corrected a typo in a quote from D. 225 spokesperson Karen Geddeis and clarified information on how the turf fields will be funded. We sincerely regret the errors.


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