Naperville District 203 took its first small step toward dealing with a looming financial crisis when the school board voted Monday not to spend about $1.5 million of its $153 million budget for the year.
The cuts proved relatively painless, affecting programs that school officials agreed would have little impact on students or classroom programs.
With little discussion, the board agreed to cut about half of the previous goal of $3 million–an amount board members acknowledged would almost definitely have a big impact on classrooms.
That’s because nearly all of the money in the education fund has been spent or committed to staff salaries, leaving the board about $5 million to examine this far into the budget year.
The cuts will reduce the projected $6.5 million deficit in the education fund, but they won’t go very far in reversing what officials say is an alarming financial trend.
Overall, District 203 is spending $17 million more than it is taking in this year, which will wipe out what was left in the district’s cash reserves. And even with no new programs, that trend is expected to worsen in the next three years.
Allen Albus, assistant superintendent for finance, said the process of looking for cuts–even though it came four months into the budget year and didn’t come close to the goal –was a valuable one.
Staff members in every building were asked for their feedback on possible cuts. And given the district’s finances, it’s clear this won’t be the last time the board will have to look hard at cutting the budget.
“It’s certainly brought an awareness that this is very real,” Albus said. “The process was a positive one … and now we’ve laid the groundwork.”
Up until this point, the Naperville school board has been reluctant to address these deficit projections, which were first announced more than a year ago. And over the last year, the board has approved millions of dollars for extra staff, new programs and enhanced technology.
The board chose to defer spending on items that would have a low impact on instruction and operations.
They include new financial software, a Windows 2000 upgrade, a voice-mail system for the elementary schools, staff training, intranet costs, postage, new physical-education equipment, conference costs and various consultants.
Some of the smallest items were cut–the $800 college night and a $5,000 postage meter–while the school equipment and supply budget were not touched. These costs make up more than $1.7 million of what remains unspent in the education fund.
Supt. Don Weber also identified $236,000 that would have a medium impact on instruction, nearly all of it for teacher training and travel to workshops and conferences. But the board opted not to cut any of that money.
The program that took the biggest hit was the new digital video distribution system, a video-on-demand technology that has proven controversial because of its delayed startup and limited use in high school classrooms.
About $1.2 million has already been spent on the program, but the board delayed spending an extra $500,000 budgeted for expanding the program.
