Wauconda schools weighing budget cuts
Emotions are running high as Wauconda Unit District 118 officials consider budget cuts that could seep deep into classrooms.
Many residents who attended a recent school board meeting expressed concerns over options board members are considering as they face a $2.2 million projected deficit in the 2010-11 budget.
Board members agreed to discuss cutting about $1.64 million from the budget. Administrative and nonunion salary freezes, some job cuts and higher student fees are likely.
"Cutting things in a school district is never a fun ordeal," Superintendent Dan Coles said. "Often there's a sense that you're going backward in time as an organization."
The board was presented with three options, each more drastic than the last.
• Option 1, which the board is likely to adopt in full, would reduce the deficit by 50 percent. The $1.09 million in cuts includes freezes to administrator and nonunion salaries, and eliminating jobs for six full-time employees, a K-5 assistant principal and a curriculum coordinator.
• Option 2 would reduce the deficit by an additional 25 percent. The board is likely to adopt most of these cuts, but not necessarily all of them. It includes elimination of the after-school program at middle schools, and reduced funding for professional development for teachers, and library and materials purchases, and higher student fees. Eliminating four part-time secretarial jobs, and a grounds and custodial positions are also proposed.
• The third option would reduce the remaining 25 percent of the budget. However, the board is unlikely to implement any of the cuts at this level. They include modifying the gifted education program, eliminating middle school after-school sports and activities and more full-time staff cuts.
If all three options were implemented, the district's budget would be balanced, officials said.
No board members defended any potential cuts in the third option, so it is likely the district will run on a deficit budget next year.
"Although I do want a balanced budget, I'm struggling with option 3," board Vice President Maggie Liddell said.
Many residents said they were concerned about cuts to sports and the gifted education program. However, the most concern by residents and board members was aimed at elimination of the middle school after-school program.
Coles said the deficit is due to a lack of state funding and the 0.1 percent Consumer Price Index last year. The CPI determines the increase a district can request in its property tax levy.
"That one-time hitch in CPI has brought down school districts so quickly because it doesn't only affect your revenue for that year but your reserves, which is what happened to us," Coles said.
The board will discuss a final direction on cuts at a committee of the whole meeting on March 4 and may vote on them on March 18.