Committee of the Whole results in another meeting scheduled

Not passing the budget was a topic for discussion at the committee of the whole meeting following the 207-U board meeting on September 22.

But before that, Director of Buildings and Grounds Mike Singleton presented the board with a 50 on the dollar matching grant to redo the concrete and flower bed in front of PHS, a Village of Peotone requested sidewalk in The Hague, with a sidewalk across the street. It was suggested a crosswalk could be added at the U, but a sidewalk wasn’t needed when there was one across the street.

Another suggested project included asphalt and concrete at the elementary school, with the addition of a concrete barrier curb. The grant that would cover these expenditures requires a parent survey and a quick turnaround. The grant is centered on creation versus repair, and Singleton, himself, thought a couple of the projects might not be approved. Expenses would have to be fronted as well, as the grant is reimbursable only. Board member Tim Stoub was the first to say he’d be in favor of forgoing the grant this cycle. The rest of the board agreed.

There also was discussion about hosting parent engagement groups. Supt. Brandon Owens said he thought the groups could be broken into centers of focus and hosted during the school day, even virtually. The consensus among board members was it was a good idea and possibly even to live stream during a lunch hour for working parents to chime in.

The next discussion was school fees. The district has hundreds-of-thousands of dollars of outstanding fees, with 37 students having more than $1,500 in outstanding fees. Fulgencio suggested an incentive to pay off fees with a 10 percent discount. If sent to collections, the agency would take more of the fees collected. The discussion continued with a settling on a 10 percent incentive to families to pay their fees by October 31, or the balance could be transferred to collections.

Baseball and softball fields were on the agenda and as Singleton discussed where the district was at and sought feedback for how to move forward, Stoub asked to pivot to the budget and the seven day deadline to pass it.

Fulgencio asked what the board would like to see in the budget, and Stoub was quick to reply.

“I think the last time we met – when the true financial position of the district came fully to light, and the long term-short term, where we ran out of borrowing capacity – that changed a lot for me. The fact that nothing changed in this proposed budget reflected where I voted today. What I’d like to see from you and your team is the making of some significant changes. I can’t even tell you what they should be. I need you to recommend them.

Salaries represent about 60 percent of the more than $22M in revenue the district receives. Total salaries for the district are $13.34M, with $7.5M representing certified staff and $1.4M representing administration for 14 positions, not including benefits.

The plan is to use the $2.45 million from the 2024 sale of the working cash bonds; there’s still a shortfall, and the district intends to take more cash bonds to support the deficit.

After that, the district has run out of the ability to purchase any more short term working cash bonds.

The district lost about $1.5 million in revenue, but also spent $1.2 million in technology, facility, and curriculum investments. 

Fulgencio replied that administration’s goal was to present three proposals in which the district would evaluate trimming the budget; Option 1 would be aggressive and severely impact students; Option 2 would be the halfway point and possibly cut almost $700,000 in extracurriculars, and the third option would have minimal impact to students. Fulgencio suggested that in almost every option to bring the budget next to zero, there would be a significant impact to students.

The next meeting was held on Monday, September 29 to approve the budget.