Edwardsville school board informs parents about budget cuts, fee increases

Parents listened quietly to Edwardsville School District 7 school leaders describe the financial situation of the district and the plan to resolve it Monday.

The district is running a $4.5 million deficit and has been required to submit financial plans to the Illinois State Board of Education showing its plan to cut staff and budgets, increase fees and seek a property tax increase in the November election.

District 7 has added more than 2,000 students since 1990, according to Dr. Lynda Andre, as well as building a new high school, elementary school and middle school, all without increasing the education fund tax rate. While referenda were passed to fund the new construction, there was no tax rate increase to staff and operate those new schools, Andre said.

Meanwhile, since the economy crashed in 2008, District 7 has cut the budget by $12 million, and lived off its working cash fund for many years, she said. In that time, the state has cut its funding to the district from more than $16 million per year to $9.5 million. In addition, the state’s policy to pay only a portion of the funds it owes schools - called “proration” has lost another $2 million per year, Andre said.

Many of the decisions made by the board during the past seven years have been to avoid layoffs and significant budget cuts, while also avoiding asking the taxpayers for an increase, she said.

The plan includes reducing approximately 25 positions, of which 14 will be laid off. The rest are employees who are resigning or retiring and will not be replaced. They include teachers, counselors, psychologists, physical and speech therapists, an administrator and others.

Other cuts include reducing athletic stipends, software licenses, curriculum and staff development budgets, earlybird bus routes, field trip budgets, charter buses, mailings to parents and other cuts, including consolidating bus stops in rural areas.

The district also is considering increasing the price of school lunches, parking fees at the high school, summer school, and activity fees paid by students in music and performing arts.

That cuts the district’s $4.5 million deficit by about $2 million, Andre said. The district will have to issue tax anticipation warrants as well - basically borrowing money against next year’s tax revenue.

“It’s critical to understand that if you borrow ahead, you’re also creating a cycle of borrowing,” Andre said.

The board has not officially voted to proceed with a property tax referendum, but it has been discussed in finance committee meetings and in a series of online videos and documents released on the district web site to educate families and residents on school finance in general and District 7’s finances in particular. Board president Monica Laurent said the series has spurred “a lot of positive comments” from residents and parents.

The full board will vote on the budget reductions and increased fees at its meeting in May. They have until August to vote on putting the referendum on the ballot.

Currently, District 7’s education fund tax rate is $2.15 per $100 of equalized assessed value, with a total district tax rate of $4.15 per $100. The education fund tax rate was last increased in 1977. The amount of increase that might be sought in November has not yet been decided, Andre said.

If successful, the earliest that the additional funds would become available to District 7 would be June 2017.

Edwardsville’s double-digit growth in property values prior to the 2008 crash helped carry the district through leaner times. Even in the worst of the recession, growth in Edwardsville-Glen Carbon slowed, but was still growing while other cities experienced sharp declines. But even that growth - about 3 percent down from a high of 14.15 percent in 2005 - disappeared in 2011. A slight rebound put property values up 1.5 percent in 2014.

Board member Jill Bertels said the district issued tax anticipation warrants last year in the hopes that the situation with the state would improve. “Obviously that hasn’t happened,” Bertels said. “I hope we can get the referendum discussion going and put a dent into that deficit we will be running into.”

A standing-room-only crowd of parents and families attended the finance committee meeting preceding the regular meeting and remained through the ceremony honoring this month’s Do the Right Thing award recipients, but at least half left before the rest of the meeting. No one spoke at the public comment section of the meeting.

In other news, the board unanimously approved continuing the program of hosting school resource officers in Edwardsville schools.

This story was originally published April 11, 2016 at 9:58 PM with the headline "Edwardsville school board informs parents about budget cuts, fee increases."