Dist. 200 looks to make up $1 million deficit

Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 will use a combination of a recent administrative shuffle and attrition through retirements to close a projected $1 million budget gap, Superintendent Brian Harris said Friday.

He said the district also will make small changes in some programs to make them more efficient and save money.

“By the time the board passes (the budget), it won’t be a deficit,” he said. “We will balance this budget.”

During a meeting Wednesday, the school board heard a financial report indicating a gap remains in its roughly $146 million budget. Harris said the proposed changes will not affect students.

“We are looking to gain some efficiencies out of our programs,” he said. “But we are not going to cut programs. We will do it through some efficiencies and reallocation of job responsibilities.”

Harris said 27 employees will retire after this school year, including one assistant superintendent. That position will not be filled and Harris said district officials will examine the others to see which will be left vacant.

Harris said officials also will look at staffing as new enrollment and class size figures become more clear.

The situation is a far cry from the district’s budget last year, when several controversial cuts were proposed to help close an $8.6 million gap. Ultimately, the district laid off about 150 teachers, although many of them were recalled.

Still, Harris said those cuts have led to an improved situation this year.

“The first reason we are in a favorable position is because of the significant reductions we made one year ago,” he said. “We would be in another difficult situation if we did not make those tough choices.”

But despite Harris’ optimism that the board will achieve a balanced budget, short-term borrowing still may be on the horizon.

During an interview Friday, Harris raised the specter of those loans and said they might be unavoidable because of the state’s financial situation.

Right now, the state owes District 200 $5.7 million in categorical funding for programs such as special education.

“We have no other choice,” Harris said. “But if we get that money, we don’t have to do the tax-anticipation warrants.”