District 54 releases tentative 2017-18 budget

The District 54 School Board released a tentative version of its 2017-18 budget at its June 15, 2017, meeting. District 54 expects to spend $257,807,382 during the 2017-18 budget year and receive $258,285,212 in revenues.

There are several unknowns in the budget at this time due to the fact that the state has not passed a budget yet and is considering several bills that could freeze property taxes and change the education funding formula. District 54 developed the 2017-18 tentative budget at this time based on the following parameters:

Revenues

Property taxes for levy years 2016-2017 are based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which was 0.7 percent for the 2016 levy and 1.5 percent for the 2017 levy.

Federal aid is expected to be comparable to 2016-2017 revenue.

State aid is expected to remain flat. District 54 does not know at this point what its funding level will be from the state for the current year.

Interest income is projected to increase from the previous year because of the federal rate increases.

Local revenues will remain consistent due to the fee structure approved by the board, which is consistent with the prior year.

Expenditures

Salaries for 2017-2018 are based on retirement projections of 10 employees retiring at the end of the 2016-17 fiscal year, and the effective raise to employees of step and lane changes.

Benefit costs are projected based on 2016-17 actual expected costs and an increase expected in 2017-18 of approximately 4 percent.

There will continue to be a freeze on overall cumulative spending in supplies, purchase services, and capital outlay. The only exception is in the Operations and Maintenance Fund, where cost of service increases cannot be controlled, and in the Education Fund for planned textbook or technology adoptions.

Tuition costs are budgeted to increase 7 percent from 2016-2017, but are highly subject to fluctuation depending on what special education services need to be outsourced.

District 54 will issue no new debt and has been debt free since Dec. 1, 2011.

The tentative budget will be available at the District Office from July 1, 2017, through August 10, 2017. On August 10, 2017, a public hearing on the budget will be held at 7 p.m. in the boardroom of the Rafferty Administration Center, 524 E. Schaumburg Road in Schaumburg (prior to the School Board meeting that evening). The School Board is expected to adopt a budget at its August 10, 2017 meeting.

To view the detailed 2017-18 tentative budget, visit the District 54 Board of Education website at http://sd54.org and click on the budget link in the June 15 Board Brief.