Hundreds vent over proposed District 200 cuts

Wheaton Warrenville Unit District 200 school board members got an earful Wednesday from parents, teachers and students worried about more than $6.7 million in suggested budget cuts.

More than 400 people attended a meeting about the district's plans to address a projected $8.6 million deficit in the 2010-11 budget.

Dozens expressed concerns about the cost-reduction plan to lay off teachers, increase class sizes, eliminate kindergarten physical education and cut reading aides.

The large crowd at Hubble Middle School burst into applause after parent Julie Georgiou said she blames the school board for getting District 200 into its financial mess.

"So, after years of wasteful spending, our district is faced with the possibility of either cutting teacher positions or making cuts to the PE, arts and music programs - all extremely vital to creating well-rounded students," Georgiou said.

She said board members repeatedly approved hefty superintendent and teachers contracts the district can't afford.

"My fellow residents of District 200, I hope this budget crisis is the call to arms needed to hold this board accountable for their mismanagement of our hard-earned money," Georgiou said.

While not addressing parents' comments directly, school board President Andy Johnson said District 200 already was facing a multimillion-dollar deficit when it received less-than-anticipated revenue.

Part of the reason is because the levy - the portion of the district's budget paid for with property taxes - is limited by the state-imposed property tax cap to 5 percent or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less. This year, the levy was capped at 0.1 percent, not including an allowance for property that has been added to the tax rolls.

"If there had been no change between 2009 and 2010 - and we had a 4 percent CPI - the deficit for the coming year would be $3.7 million instead of the $8.6 (million) that we are wrestling with now," Johnson said.

Johnson also said state and federal mandates that are issued without accompanying funding have placed additional financial strains on the district.

In determining the $8.6 million projected deficit, officials assumed all administrative salaries would be frozen for the 2010-11 school year and teachers won't see an increase in their base salary.

However, teachers would have to agree to any pay freeze because they are represented by a union. The district and the teachers union are in the process of negotiating a contract.

If there is an agreement that teachers won't receive any step (experience) increase for the coming year, that would generate about $1.5 million in savings, officials estimate. If there was no salary boost for additional credits or degrees, it would save another $1 million.

One suggestion parents repeatedly made during Wednesday's two-and-a-half hour meeting is that District 200 needs to consider reducing administrative salaries, eliminating redundant administrative positions and stopping the practice of paying 100 percent of administrators health and dental insurance.

If administrators paid 20 percent of their health premiums like teachers, it would save the district $213,000, officials estimate.

"All of us are impacted by lost jobs, frozen wages, trimmed benefits, pay cuts," parent Kristen Seely said. "This is the right climate to ask for retroactive concessions from the unions and overhaul administrative compensation packages to reflect today's reality. Anything else is just unsustainable."

Ultimately, it will be up to school board members to decide how many of the reductions are needed to bring spending in line with revenue.

They are scheduled to vote on the final list of budget reductions March 24.

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<li><a href="/story/?id=363726">Views on District 200 budget<span class="date"> [3/5/10]</span></a></li>

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