Election 2011: District 63 Candidates on Finances

What are your thoughts on the financial position of the district? How much have delayed state aid payments impacted it? Are you concerned that cuts will be necessary in the near future?

New enrollment is essentially half what it was 10 years ago.  This substantially lowers financial pressures. We need to take this opportunity to save money so that cuts are not necessary in the future. Saving money is something the past board has never accomplished.

I guess in a sense District 63 is fortunate in that we are a bit ahead of the curve due to the painful cuts we had to make several years ago. In the “near future” we should be in pretty good shape financially. All of the forecast models we use show the district finances being OK for the next several years without any further cuts. Delays in state aid payments will have an impact on cash flow and potentially could lead to short-term borrowing. That is a practice we have worked extremely hard to get away from. I’d hate to go back. It’s very costly. District 63 is somewhat unique compared to our neighbor districts in that we also receive Federal Impact Aid due to Argonne being partially within our boundaries. The combination of further delays in federal monies due to us coupled with further delays from the state could change the rules and force us to consider additional cuts.

The financial position of the district is currently much improved. We have recently gotten out of tax anticipation warrants, meaning that we added to our fund balances enough to avoid short term borrowing. The delayed state aid payments have not had a huge impact yet but could force us back into short-term borrowing to pay the bills. I am not concerned that cuts will be necessary in the future. We have maintained a balanced budget over the past four years and have lived within our means. That is not to say that we will never have to make cuts again. At some point when expenses continue to outpace revenue, something has to give.

Our district implemented cuts in the past five years that reduced its budget by about 10 percent. This had a significant impact at that time on programs within the district. We have still maintained a high level of education despite those program changes. I feel that having made those cuts several years ago, before the state's current budget crisis was felt by most school districts, we have positioned ourselves well in terms of how we are impacted by state aid. We have managed to stay ahead of the current state crisis and I don't foresee having to cut any additional programs due to the state's current situation. However, I do believe we need to constantly monitor the state's situation and see how it can affect our district in the future. What many people don't realize is that District 63 is more impacted by federal aid payments due to the fact that we are on federally impacted land with property within district boundries being occupied by Argonne Laboratories. As a district, the smallest amount of our revenue is from the state of Illinois. The district does rely on every penny it receives from the state and federal government, as well as the local tax dollars. If those payments are not received we do need to make adjustments. In the past four years we have been able to do that without changes to the teaching and learning environment in the district.

The district is currently operating on a balanced budget; however, we need to continue to build the fund balances. Delayed state aid puts a burden on the overall impact of the finances. Schools need to collect the revenue they are entitled to in order to keep operating. If expenses outgrow revenue, additional cuts are certainly a possibility.