Six numbers to know before District 59 approves its budget
Elk Grove Township District 59 school board members will vote on a $139.7 million budget Monday, culminating a heated several months of financial planning.
The spending plan has gotten extra scrutiny this year for several reasons. The district is building an expensive administration center in Elk Grove Village. Residents organized to oppose a potential bond issue that would raise taxes. And projections show a sharp decline in reserve funds due to deficit spending the next several years.
Meanwhile, the state has missed the first couple of payments to districts as lawmakers in Springfield fight over a new school funding formula.
Here's a look at important numbers in this year's proposed budget.
$32.9 million: That's how much the district would dip into its reserve fund of $110 million. At one point, this number was about $19 million, but school board members cut out a $15 million bond issue that would have been repaid until 2024. More on that later.
The deficit spending is largely due to paying for construction projects and adding dozens of employees the past several years to improve early education programs and classroom instruction.
19: The district is adding about this many more positions this year, which will increase spending by nearly $1 million. The new jobs fall in the areas of social emotional learning and support, teacher coaching, and early learning and intervention programming.
$14.8 million: This is the amount the district will pay in this year's budget on the new administration building. Two weeks ago, school board members shaved $1.1 million from the cost by removing immediate plans for building a kitchen commissary at the site.
Because other parts of the project were covered in last year's budget, the total cost stands at roughly $16 million.
$15 million: Over the summer, the district projected $100 million in deficit spending the next five years, which would largely deplete its robust reserve fund. To pay for construction projects and offset the sharp drawdown of its savings account, the district started the process for borrowing $15 million.
But residents gathered signatures to force a vote on the bond issue during the March election. Then an Elk Grove Village resident challenged the validity of the petitions, leaving a question as to whether the district can count on the funds, which is why they were dropped from the budget.
$15: If the bonds are approved, that's the property tax increase for an average resident with a $250,000 home would pay until 2024. Though the amount is small, opponents say they're already getting hit with property tax increases, the state income tax hike and a new tax on sweetened beverages in Cook County.
$4 million: The district has made about this amount in cuts to the spending plan. School board members removed about $3.4 million in spending over the last two months, eliminating the commissary, classroom upgrades and technology updates for some grades.
The school board meeting is 7 p.m. Monday, at the administration building, 2123 S. Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights.