District 95 looks to cut $4 million

Lake Zurich Unit District 95 officials say they may be forced to cut as much as $4 million from the budget for fiscal year 2010 to avoid a deficit.

Superintendent Brian Knutson has said that all nontenured teachers will be released. Programs also could be cut, and class sizes may have to increase, officials said at the board of education's committee of the whole meeting Thursday.

"Right now, we're looking at any and every way to reduce our budget," Assistant Superintendent Michael Egan said. He added he has not seen layoffs as a result of financial hardship during his 14 years with the district.

Knutson will present the school board with a list of recommended cuts at its Feb. 12 meeting.

District 95 board members expressed concern about maintaining current staffing levels, and acknowledged teacher cuts will likely be on that list next month.

"What's coming is going to be extremely difficult when people see what 3.7 (million) or 4 million dollars actually means," said Board President Kathy Brown.

The problems are largely due to an unexpected drop in the consumer price index from 4.1 percent to 0.1 percent, leading to a shortfall in property tax revenue, officials said.

The district is also having problems collecting money from the village of Lake Zurich. The village has not yet paid $532,000 for tuition reimbursements for the 2007-08 academic year.

Many board members expressed frustration because they said they have worked hard to balance the budget and avoid a deficit during the last four years. The current economic crisis could have been eased by reserves the board does not have as a result of the previous budget problems.

"We've made progress," Brown said. "Our progress hasn't been fast enough to give us the reserves to (be above) this crisis. It's catastrophic."

Board member Mike Finn suggested salary freezes as a way to cut costs, but said the board does not have the power to implement those freezes.

Brown said the cuts are being discussed now to meet notification requirements for any nontenured teachers who may be cut. Nontenured teachers must be alerted of their release at least 45 days before the end of the school year. However, some of those teachers may be rehired if funding allows.

When the board meets in three weeks to discuss the list of specific cuts involved in a $4 million budget decrease, officials said they expect it to be a sobering discussion.

"There are going to be unhappy people, but we need to make decisions to survive," said Board Member John Kropf.