St. Charles schools delays budget vote to wait for word on state aid

The St. Charles school board will delay approving a proposed $210.9 million budget this year by a month, hoping to get a firmer idea of just how much general aid the state will give the district.

Putting out a final draft beforehand would be a waste of time, board member Edward McNally said Wednesday.

The board's business committee received the draft of the 2015-16 budget Wednesday, and it counts on the general state aid proration being set at 77 percent of the legislature's appropriation for aid, meaning the district would get about $4.37 million for its education fund. The current proration, for the fiscal year that ends June 30, is about 85 percent.

The budget also counts on the main formula for determining that aid remaining the same as it was in previous years. The formula takes into account a district's available local resources such as property taxes and average daily attendance.

St. Charles Superintendent Don Schlomann said he fears, given the state's fiscal problems, that the proration could drop to as low as 50 percent. If that happens, Schlomann said, the board should expect to discuss delaying purchases of technology and curriculum, or whether it wants to run a budget deficit and spend more of its reserves.

"You are going to hear in the upcoming board meeting (in June): Do we want to look at our enrollment stuff as a potential to offset these things sooner rather than later?" Schlomann said.

Enrollment has declined the last five years. In the spring election, candidates discussed measures such as redrawing school attendance boundaries to be more efficient. Seth Chapman, the district's chief financial officer, said increasing or decreasing average class sizes by one student equals about $1.5 million in spending or savings.

Committee member Corinne Pierog asked Schlomann and Chapman their opinions about when the state funding would be set.

The legislature is supposed to pass a budget by the end of May, but Gov. Bruce Rauner has said he is unwilling to sign a new budget until legislators approve changes he has proposed in workers' compensation laws, a property tax freeze and other measures that are part of his Turnaround Agenda.

"This is going to be a long, long summer" waiting for the governor and legislators to work out a budget, Schlomann said.

Overall, the district's proposed budget calls for a one-half percent increase in expenditures compared to the 2014-15 budget. It projects having the equivalent of 18 fewer full-time teachers, administrators and support staff workers. It also budgets for a 12 percent increase in the cost of health insurance.

Property taxes would account for 77.6 percent of the revenue; state funding, including the general state aid, would account for 16 percent.

The district's fiscal year starts July 1, but it has until the end of September to approve a budget. The budget will be discussed again at a July 30 business services committee meeting; a public hearing and board vote are set for Sept. 14. The budget will be published in mid-August. The initial draft can be viewed in the May 27 business services committee agenda packet on the BoardBook section of the district's website, d303.org.