Money running low for Grayslake school

Prairie Crossing Charter School in Grayslake might need to reduce spending so it has enough money to get through the academic year.

School board President Dennis Munk said Friday that a lack of fundraising and dwindling donations have hurt the school financially. Unlike other public schools, Prairie Crossing depends on a combination of state aid and private money.

Munk said spending reductions are needed to have enough cash flow for the academic year.

"Within a month, we'll have an action plan," he said. "Absolutely."

Charter school Director Myron Dagley was expected to give a presentation on this year's budget and potential cuts at a special meeting Friday night. A question-and-answer sessions with parents and others was planned.

In a report delivered last month, former board member and treasurer Laura Elizabeth Fay wrote that Prairie Crossing's liquidity and cash flow are at crisis levels.

"For the school to remain financially viable, it will be critical to make all efforts to maintain current enrollment, to actively pursue students to fill upper-grade … vacancies, to maximize philanthropic and other revenue streams and aggressively contain costs," Fay said.

On Friday, Fay said this year's budget woes might be caused by a growing administrative staff and spending in areas not vital to education.

"I think we really need to cut our discretionary expenses," Fay said. "We spent thousands of dollars painting the hallways at a classroom building."

Prairie Crossing is a public school with an environmentally focused curriculum that receives students from Woodland Elementary District 50 and Fremont Elementary District 79.

Illinois' per-pupil general state aid follows children who attend Prairie Crossing, which schools kindergartners through eighth-graders. The school accepts children beyond the Fremont and Woodland borders if parents pay out-of-area tuition.

State aid accounts for almost all of the 359-student school's budget of roughly $4 million. Prairie Crossing is Lake County's only charter school.

Prairie Crossing board members were scheduled to discuss strategic planning at a meeting beginning at 8 a.m. today at the University of Illinois Extension office, 100 S. Route 45 in Grayslake.