All quiet as District 54 passes yet another balanced budget
The Schaumburg Community Consolidated School District 54 Board of Education passed a 2010-11 budget without a peep from the public Thursday, likely because the budget was balanced for the 15th consecutive year.
Officials stressed that the budget process is an open one and said the public is encouraged to give feedback during the process, after a call for comments regarding the budget was met with silence from the crowd, who were more interested in honoring exceptional students, alumni and community members for service awards than talking numbers.
District 54, which serves 27 schools, expects to spend $238,078,823 during the budget year and expects to take in $229,572,321 in revenues, school board officials said. Assistant Superintendent Mohsin Dada said the reason expenditures are more than revenues is because construction revenue was recognized before July 1 and included in last year's budget, given it a surplus; however the bills for construction were paid out of this year's budget. Because of capital project rules, the district could not count the construction dollars in this year's budget despite it being used to pay the construction bill in this year's budget, he said.
A freeze on overall spending in supplies and other items will continue, with exception to operations and maintenance and construction funds, which cannot be controlled, officials said in a news release.
School officials expect state aid to remain flat due to funding deficiencies, as well as expecting federal aid to drop back to 2009 levels. Officials project an increase in benefit costs, and a larger increase in HMO medical costs. District officials said less than 20 percent of its revenue are from state and federal sources, noting that an "average Illinois school district" receives almost 38 percent of its revenue from state sources and 9.3 percent from federal sources.
Assistant Superintendent Mohsin Dada cited a cost savings in student transportation as a contributing factor to the balanced budget, noting that the contracted rates for 2010-2011 and 2011-12 are less than the rate paid in 1998-1999.
The budget will be available on the district's Website shortly, officials said.