Why Woodland schools are in the red
More low-income students and a local charter school are part of the reasons for budget woes at Woodland Elementary District in Gurnee, board members said during a community forum presentation Tuesday night.
About 150 spectators attended the session at Woodland Intermediate School. Many in the crowd were District 50 teachers and parents.
Woodland has a tentative plan that would include job cuts and classroom realignment in an effort to plug a projected $2.1 million budget hole for the 2011-12 school year. The district's $81.7 million budget for 2010-11 is running a $4 million deficit, officials said.
Board member Bruce Bohren told the crowd there is a cost to Woodland's changing demographics. In 1999, he said, 4 percent of students were considered to be learning English compared to 25 percent for the current academic year.
Woodland's low-income population was 1 percent in 1990 as opposed to 25 percent in the 2010-11 school season, Bohren said.
“It usually costs more to educate them,” Bohren said of the low-income pupils.
Prairie Crossing Charter School in Grayslake also received attention Tuesday evening. Prairie Crossing is an environmentally focused public choice school within the borders of Woodland and Fremont Elementary District 79.
District 50 board member Terry Hall said $2.8 million in general state aid that would have gone to Woodland was diverted to Prairie Crossing for the 2010-11 academic year.
That $2.8 million is for 317 children from Woodland's boundaries who attend the charter school.
About $17.9 million of Woodland's state aid has been sent to Prairie Crossing since it began in 1999. Hall said test results show no difference between student achievement at Woodland or the much smaller choice school.
“They've had 12 years to demonstrate they do a better job,” Hall said.
Board President Lawrence Gregorash said Woodland officials are not criticizing Prairie Crossing.
In a presentation by Woodland board member Mark Vondracek, he noted Prairie Crossing is the only charter school in Illinois to be funded with general state aid derived from a larger district.
He said Woodland's budget would be “better off” if the state funded the charter school another way.
Meanwhile, potential cuts are on the table for the 2011-12 academic season.
They include saving an estimated $809,838 annually by adjusting core classroom sections to meet established size ranges, and cutting five full-time fine arts teaching positions to conserve an estimated $224,955 yearly.
Woodland board members will discuss the proposals for the 2011-12 school year budget at public meetings on Jan. 27 and Feb. 3. Board members are to take action in a final vote Feb. 24.
“No decisions have been made,” Gregorash said.