Dist. 300 finds itself awash with money

Leaving unanswered the question of how to spend a projected $2.2 million surplus, the Community Unit District 300 school board on Monday night approved its budget for the 2007-08 school year.

The school board approved a budget that allows for more teachers and special education staff after state lawmakers finally took action to approve increases in funding for schools.

"We're right where we said we'd be in July," Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Crates said. "We were just waiting for state approval."

The funding increases will generate an additional $3 million in state aid and $500,000 in funding for school aides and special education, Crates has said.

These increases, combined with an estimated $3 million in additional property tax revenue, mean District 300 will likely finish the year in the black for the second year in a row.

Of the estimated $2.2 million surplus, half would go into the district's working cash fund toward the district's goal of maintaining three months of operating expenses in the fund.

The board's budget discussions on Monday focused on how to spend the other half of the projected surplus.

The district's administration and advisory committees have made recommendations on how to spend the surplus, but board members Monica Clark and John Ryan said they wanted more information and discussion at the board level before they made a decision.

Clark said her chief concern was the largest expense, $720,000 budgeted for department chairs at the district's three high schools.

"I'm not saying it's not needed," Clark said. "I'm saying I need more information to make an informed decision."

The board voted to approve the budget but delayed a vote on how to spend the projected surplus and about $1 million in one-time revenue from the state until its next meeting.

An earlier Monday night vote that included the surplus expenditures failed.

Like many school districts, District 300 initially delayed incorporating funding increases into its budget while state legislators and the governor wrangled over the state budget.

In September, the school board approved a budget with conservative increases in state funding.

Meanwhile, district finance officials had already prepared another budget scenario based on the expected funding increases, the scenario the school board approved on Monday.