District 210 to Vote on 2011-12 Budget

Last year, the Lincoln-Way High School District went over budget for the first time last year, by $2.4 million, and needed to dip into savings to make up the shortfall.

That's the third straight year District 210 has turned to its reserve fund to make up for budget shortfalls, either from delayed state funding or a drop in other revenue streams.

What that means for the district is that cuts have come hard and fast, to the tune of about $3 million in cuts each year for the past three years. On Thursday night, the school board will vote to adopt the 2011-12 budget, which is balanced but again includes money from reserves.

“Three years ago we saw this coming, and so what we started to do was start cutting a little bit each year,” District 210 Supt. Larry Wyllie said. “It's turned out to be quite a bit, but we saw it coming. Our revenue flows went down faster than we could cut.”

State and Local Funding

As state payments have dropped, local property taxes have become more important than ever for the district, accounting for about 80 percent of the its revenue and the state contributing about 20 percent.

But Wyllie said the state is currently 10 months behind on payments to the district, totaling about $900,000. To put it in perspective, that's about 12 to 15 teaching positions. Wyllie added that while the state money wouldn't solve the district's budget short falls, it would help.

As for local funding, revenue for the district took a big hit when the economy hit the skids and the housing market took its nosedive. Wyllie said that a major portion of the district's funds come from taxes, mainly new building and remodeling taxes. With the downturn those revenue streams have taken a hit, causing the district to dip into its reserve fund.

Preserving the Reserve

Much like a savings account for a household, the reserve fund is money the district has saved over the years. As the shortfalls in the budget have mounted over the last three years, the district has been forced to dip into savings for about $6 million over the same time period.

Despite that, Wyllie said the reserve fund still has about $30 million in the fund, or about 30 percent of the district's revenue. According to Wyllie, the district has a high credit rating with Standard & Poor's and Moody's, which recommend having at least 25 percent of the district's overall budget in savings.

If the recent trend of dipping into the reserve fund for about $3 million per year continues, Wyllie said the district could maintain the pace for 10 years. But with the forthcoming construction of the new Silver Cross Hospital and outlet mall in New Lenox, the tax revenue generated could really help the district.

Stemming The Tide

The cuts over the last three years have primarily come from personnel, including administration, faculty and coaches. There have been 10 administrative positions cut in the last three years, and the district has avoided filling some positions after teachers have retired.  In the last year alone, nine teachers retired and only four positions were filled.

Wyllie said the cuts to teachers haven't shown an impact yet through standardized test scores, but he added that it could be due to the short term of the cuts.

“It'll take another year or two for that to trickle down," he said. "My hope is that we're able to keep our test scores going up."

Also cut back was the zero-hour program, which was previously offered free of charge to students. Wyllie said that the cuts led to 35 teaching positions being lost and students now paying $500 for zero hour. This led to 2,200 students taking zero hour previously to 400 students currently.

What Does The Future Hold?

So with cuts made and revenues still coming in at a slower than ideal pace, what does the budget look like for the 2011-12 fiscal year? Balanced, though once again, the district dipped into its savings account. However, Wyllie remains optimistic about the future of the district.

“I just think that this district is a great district and people want their kids to go to school here,” he said. “For 60 years, the board has never wavered on two things, and that's been academic intensity and fiscal responsibility.

"As long as they can maintain the strength in those areas, I see this district continuing to be strong.”

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