Legislation that Gov. George Ryan recently signed to establish a finance authority to run the debt-plagued Round Lake school district won’t translate into any immediate changes, officials said Monday.
Marc Spivak, chairman of the committee that oversees finances for District 116, said it is likely to be months before the authority makes any major financial decisions.
Meanwhile, School Board President Terre Ezyk said the board is drafting a budget for the 2002-03 school year that does not include any new revenue.
“We as a school district have to provide an education for the children of this district, and we have been building a budget based on what we have,” Ezyk said.
Even if new funding is allocated to the district–possibly through a property tax increase or state grant–it isn’t likely that the district would receive the money until the following school year, Ezyk said.
On Monday, the three-member oversight panel approved a resolution to ask the Illinois State Board of Education to allow the finance authority to run the school district, which has more than 6,000 children.
The panel was required to make the request under state guidelines to establish the finance authority, which will have the power to sell bonds and raise property taxes above the current limit. The tax cap law restricts increases to no more than 5 percent a year.
The finance authority also will be authorized to negotiate collective bargaining agreements and appoint the district’s top management team.
An immediate issue involves negotiations between the teachers union and the district, which began in May. The teachers’ contract expires June 30.
The district, which has been on the state’s watch list for more than a decade, has about $14 million in short-term debt and $40 million in long-term debt.
Under the legislation Ryan signed last week, the state superintendent of schools has 10 days to appoint members to the finance authority after the measure has been approved.
The five-member group will consist of a chief executive officer and a financial officer. The law stipulates that two members live in the district and the other three come from outside the district.
Ezyk said she expects a smooth transition to occur between the school board and the new authority.
“A lot of the work that they will need to make good decisions has already been done,” she said.
