Post by insider on Jan 31, 2010 13:47:56 GMT -6
State funding may force Dist. 204 into more cuts
By Justin Kmitch | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 1/27/2010 7:45 PM | Updated: 1/27/201 7:46 PM
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=354491
Just six weeks after announcing an austerity plan to save the district $9.2 million and balance the budget, Indian Prairie Unit District 204 administrators warn it may not be enough.
But whatever further cuts need to be made, they will attempt to do so without cutting staff.
"At that time we indicated the $9.2 million reduction would essentially balance the budget but we made one pretty large caveat," said Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance Dave Holm. "We said that the state funding was a big unknown so we left that open at the same (funding level). Since then the state board of education has met and determined their recommendation would be for what they call level funding, and that's all well and good."
But Holm said the recommendation was based on an assumption that the legislature would be able to fill the $922 million worth of lost stimulus money that basically expired.
"Further reductions may be required and the cabinet has started working on what that may look like," Holm said. "We've still got a lot to do but I think you need to know we are determining what our recommendation would be to the board for further reductions if need be."
The recommendation focused on six areas: increasing revenue, delaying expenditures, increasing operational efficiencies, examining staffing levels, reviewing health benefit claims and cutting several program costs.
Superintendent Kathryn Birkett said several of the 30 cost-saving initiatives have already begun, including a $300,000 stipend cut for middle and high school activities, eliminating high school classes with less than 60 percent enrollment and increasing high school and middle school class sizes by one student each.
Each of those moves, and several others, she said are being done with the intent of keeping the district out of the headlines for teacher layoffs.
"I think often you will read Glenbard cuts or Maine Township cuts 140 teachers or whatever and there's a number attached. The way we're attacking it is by looking at class size and then we will see what that number looks like," Birkett said. "Typically the good fortune of being a large district is that there is often attrition. We're hoping as those things happen we'll be able to shift people and do the best work we can so we can maintain.
"Obviously that's important to us because we have a good teaching staff and classified staff and we certainly want to be able to maintain that."
Holm said he will be meeting regularly with the administration as the funding situation continues to unfold.
