District 211 says it strives to avoid cutting teachers
Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 officials Thursday stressed the importance of avoiding layoffs while reacting to proposed reductions in state education funding.
"Our goal, if at all possible, was to preserve the people and programs that had a direct impact on student achievement," Superintendent Nancy Robb said.
Though District 211 plans on losing $3 million from the state as a result of Gov. Quinn's proposed $1.2 billion in state educational cuts, teaching jobs won't be cut except for positions cut because of declining enrollment. Nine teaching posts will be cut next year for that reason.
This school year, 12,701 students are enrolled in the district, and enrollment is projected to drop to 12,485 next year, a difference of 216 students. The nine cuts will save $547,000.
District 211 officials presented two plans at Thursday night's board meeting to deal with the lack of state funding. One plan contained $3.2 million in cuts and another with $4.1 million in cuts.
Much of the savings would come from deferring spending on technology and construction. Torres said the difference between the two plans proposed is $1 million for technology purposes.
The most direct impact for residents could be through increased rental fees for use of school facilities, Robb said. The last time fees were increased was in 2004, and the increases would raise $60,000.
The two plans deal with the state cuts in the short term, or through the next year. If state funding continues to dwindle, the district would have to take a look at further cuts, including reductions in personnel.
The district is scheduled to present next year's budget in August, and Associate Superintendent for Business David Torres said it was too early in the process to reveal numbers he's crunching.
He did say he expects the budget to be similar to this year's, which featured $259.8 million in expenditures. Much of the budget is set because of labor contracts that tie salary to the rate of inflation. The board must adopt the budget by Sept. 30.
About 7 percent of the district's budget comes from the state, which is less than in surrounding districts. Torres still called the loss significant.
The district doesn't know how much money exactly they'll have from the state until Springfield lawmakers adopt the state budget. That's why Torres showed two plans. Part of the confusion is also how much the money schools would get from a proposed income tax increase.
"I believe a year from now, we'll have a better direction," Torres said.
Robb also highlighted the district's plan to save $200,000 from changing the standard temperatures for cooling and heating for all of its buildings. The district is switching from a 72-degree to a 71-degree heating temperature, and from a 74-degree to a 75-degree cooling temperature.
There's also a $350,000 in savings from a change in health insurance for noncertified retired teachers.
Declining enrollment also means a reduction in teaching assistants, of which the district employs 276. Robb said they haven't determined how many of those jobs will be lost due to the dip in enrollment.
Officials determined the proposed cuts the same way they did six years ago when they outlined $7 million in deep program cuts before voters approved a tax hike, Robb said. Administrators met at least four times in compiling the plans.