Dist. 204 candidates debate surplus fund uses

Call it a cushion, a rainy-day fund or a budget surplus.

No matter the term, Indian Prairie Unit District 204 has about $8 million on hand and five candidates running for three school board seats in the April 5 election have different views on how the funds should be handled.

The five-person field includes incumbents Curt Bradshaw and Alka Tyle and newcomers Lori Price, Mark Rising and Tricia Tillotson.

Tillotson is calling for the entire surplus to be refunded back to taxpayers, giving each household an estimated $200.

“That’s not the school district’s money,” Tillotson said of the surplus. “They should not keep that money.”

Rising called such a refund a “feel-good idea,” but said maintaining the fund, or possibly using it to pay some of the district’s school construction debt, is the most responsible course of action.

Bradshaw, the sitting school board president, said he sees the surplus as a safeguard to help deal with money the state owes the district.

“We decided we must live within our means and part of living within our means is putting together a budget that gives us a cushion for the amount we don’t expect to get from the state,” said Bradshaw, who’s running for re-election.

Tyle said the state owes the district $8.3 million and that amount could grow to about $12 million by March 31.

If the district still is awaiting state funding at the end of the academic year, Tyle said some of the $8 million surplus may become necessary for ongoing costs such as building maintenance and technology purchases.

“I don’t see that as a surplus, meaning free money,” said Tyle, who is running for re-election. “It is actually money we’re saving for a rainy day, which very likely we might need before the year is out.”

Price said she understands Tillotson’s desire to please taxpayers by dividing and refunding the surplus.

But Price said she believes the decision creates a difficult balancing act between meeting student needs and satisfying taxpayers. She said the district has shown responsible budget management by maintaining lower operating costs for each pupil than the state average.

Bradshaw and Tyle said they think a use will arise for the surplus before the district truly is able to consider the option of returning it to taxpayers.

“I’d love to be sitting in a situation at the end of the year where we’re debating about what to do with $8 million extra, but I don’t believe for a minute that (state) money is going to be there,” Bradshaw said. “So I’d like to think we’d be having that discussion but don’t expect it.”

Indian Prairie Unit District 204 serves parts of Aurora, Bolingbrook, Naperville and Plainfield.