Dist. 211 looks to cut team bus costs

In an attempt to curb gas spending, Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 officials have asked the sports department to limit bus trips to away contests.

During a budget presentation Thursday night, Superintendent Roger Thornton said the rising price of fuel was the main culprit for a projected $300,000 increase in the supplies and materials fund for fiscal year 2008-09 compared with the previous year. Director of Athletics Otis Price said his staff is looking to combine travel for teams of different levels "whenever possible." One way is to eliminate a separate bus for spirit teams, instead having them travel with the team they're supporting on the road.

"It's something that we did in the past," Price said.

Board members later Thursday approved the $277.3 million tentative budget, which represents a 5.5 percent decrease compared with estimated actual expenditures from 2007-08, which were at $293.5 million. The projected revenues for 2008-09 are $262.1 million, compared with 2007-08 estimated actual revenues at $282.4, a 7.2 percent decrease.

Associate Superintendent for Business David Torres credited the district's restructuring of employee health benefits as one way it saved. His staff achieved its goal to keep expenditures, excluding salaries, even with the consumer price index at around 2.5 percent.

Salaries represented the largest expenditure in the proposed budget at $120.4 million, which represents a $5.7 million increase, or 4.5 percent raise compared with the previous year. On the brink of a strike last November, the board approved 3.25 percent increases to base salaries for teachers, which excludes step raises that reward for experience.

Board member Bill Lloyd cast the only vote against the tentative budget. He said he wasn't comfortable with how some expenditures in utilities, purchases and materials were outpacing revenues.

The district is also looking at digital classroom materials to save money, as the rising cost of paper is making textbooks more expensive. However, Thornton said, often the cost of electronic media is the same as traditional materials.

Thornton sat at his final budget presentation, as he's set to retire at the end of the year. He said the district's financial situation differed radically from before the 2005 voter-approved tax-rate hike, which saved the district from cutting several programs. Thornton said the district has kept its promise of responsible spending to the community that placed trust in them.

"I think we did it, and we should continue," he said.