District 158 juggles budget; cuts more than likely, officials say

The Huntley Unit District 158 school board on Thursday took a second-to-last look at the district's tentative budget for next year, and it didn't look pretty.

Not including federal stimulus money, a large portion of which is already earmarked, District 158's latest projections show the district expects to receive an additional $1.1 million for day-to-day expenses like salaries and gas next year.

But the revenue bump won't cover more than $4 million in expenses from increasing salary and health care costs, District 158 Controller Mark Altmayer said at Thursday's board meeting.

To accommodate those costs, most of which stem from the district's contractual obligations, district administrators have proposed large cuts in operations and maintenance in an effort to avoid directly affecting classroom instruction.

"We have made some significant cuts to get where we are today," Altmayer said. "It's going to be a challenge to meet the (2009-10) budget."

District officials said they avoided deeper cuts by not budgeting a surplus, though it could come in handy if the state fails to deliver all of its promised grant money to schools, as was the case this year,

"I'm not comfortable that there's not a surplus in this budget," Superintendent John Burkey said Thursday. "Without more significant cuts, we just can't do that at this time."

District 158's fiscal health may not be as dire next year as the budget and officials' statements would indicate. While the state has sharply increased the general allocation for schools next year, the district's current budget reflects no increase in state funding.

Still, the state has tentatively slashed other sources of revenue for schools, so it is unclear how the balance of state funding will affect District 158.

"In revenue, there are still a lot of questions," Burkey said.

The board is scheduled to vote on the tentative budget at its next regular meeting on June 18.

The new fiscal year begins July 1.