U-46 unveils tentative budget

With lawmakers still haggling over a state budget and negotiating teams still haggling over a teacher contract, Elgin Area School District U-46 officials presented a very tentative $421 million budget to the school board this week.

The 2007-2008 budget plan allocates about $352 million for day-to-day operating expenses, about 5 percent more than last year.

The increase would go, in part, toward slightly lower class size targets at some elementary schools; a new coordinator for gifted education; library and instructional materials; and the new academy at South Elgin High School.

A $10 million salary bump for U-46 teachers, administrators, substitutes and supervisors also is built into the tentative budget -- pending the outcome of contract negotiations.

The budget includes money for all initiatives put in place during the past three years as part of U-46's district improvement plan, U-46 Chief Financial Officer John Prince said.

"It's important to be able to sustain what we start," Prince said.

But the unresolved state budget made revenue predictions for the upcoming school year imprecise and necessarily conservative, Prince said.

Prince assumed the district would collect the same amount as last year for special state-funded programs and $2.4 million less in general state aid.

Prince said those figures are conservative because there are indications that the state budget, once finalized, will include new money for special education and an increase in general state aid.

U-46 officials also are waiting for district auditors to certify the final figures from the 2006-2007 school year.

The district likely finished the school year with a $2.5 million balance in its main operating funds -- officially erasing the $40 million deficit uncovered in 2003.

The district has scheduled a public hearing on the 2007-2008 budget for Sept. 10.