How District 204 is facing tough economy

The state of the nation's economy has been the primary focus of attention for the vast majority of us this past year.

Like many of you, Indian Prairie Unit District 204 also has felt the impact of the financial crisis. I know our families have had to tighten their belts and as a school district, we have had to make adjustments as well.

With the economy serving as a focus for many, I want to highlight its impact on our district.

Understanding complicated school finances can be difficult. I want to simplify things in terms of dollars and cents.

Just as many families have recalculated their home budgets, our district administrators have spent long hours examining the money coming into and going out of the district.

Property taxes represent our number one revenue source. Growth in property taxes is capped at the overall Consumer Price Index, which for 2009-10 is 4.1 percent and for 2010-11 is capped at 0.1 percent. This, coupled with a dramatic downturn in new home construction, leaves our local revenues essentially flat.

Our second-largest source of revenue is from the State of Illinois, which is facing its own financial challenges. The state is currently three months behind in payments to our district, which amounts to nearly $10 million in revenue by the end of this school year. What is more troubling to us is future funding since state leaders are projecting their own shortfall that could reach $11 billion.

Where does this leave our district? Indian Prairie is short about $6.5 million for next year's budget. We have little control over property taxes, the CPI, and government funding, so we need to trim our existing expenses to make ends meet. This is the area where we really tighten the belt.

Let me be clear on one thing; we will not concede to any solution that will compromise our academics. We are not increasing class sizes or cutting programs so as to improve our bottom line. Our focus has never wavered as our students deserve the highest quality education we can offer.

When the economic forecast began to look bleak, the district's leadership team developed the following four guiding principles to help navigate the budget crisis: protect the academic quality that has been built over the years; maintain a quality teaching work force; ensure students have access to the courses and programs they need; and focus on the district's mission.

After establishing our guidelines, we looked at revenue sources and ways to improve efficiencies. On the revenue side, our district will receive funds from the federal stimulus package and additional funding for our new all-day kindergarten program and the national school lunch program that begins next year.

On the efficiency side, we've locked in our natural gas rates at 33 percent and our electricity rate at 50 percent less. We are also purchasing the diesel fuel that our transportation service provider will use for our buses next year. Unlike the bus company, a school district is not taxed on fuel purchases, which represents a significant savings. We are investigating bidding on diesel with our neighboring districts for an even greater savings. We've also trimmed more than $1.3 million from across-the-board reductions.

We've also looked at efficiencies with our teaching staff. We've changed staffing patterns so there will be fewer teachers in noninstructional roles. This move resulted in having to hire very few outside staff to open Metea Valley High School and Fischer Middle School this fall. We did this while being mindful of our guiding principles and adhering to our current class sizes.

The newly formed professional development program that is part of the negotiated one-year contract we just signed with our teachers also provides a savings. Teachers will have a regular meeting time before school each week to work on school improvement. This replaces the need to hire substitutes for teachers to attend meetings during the workday and keeps teachers in front of their students to deliver instruction.

All of our efforts have resulted in reducing a $6.5 million shortfall to $900,000. While our belt-tightening efforts have been productive, we aren't done. We are still working on getting as close as possible to a balanced budget for next year.

To help us get there, we have asked our Citizens Financial Advisory Committee to once again meet to provide creative suggestions from the business world and challenge the status quo.

Without a doubt, our community has been affected by the current economy. While we continue to seek ways to positively chart our financial future, we will continue to address our fundamental focus, which is to provide our students with an excellent education.

• Stephen Daeschner is superintendent of Indian Prairie Unit District 204. His column appears monthly during the school year in Neighbor.