District 300 to Vote on $8.3 Million in Cuts

Monday is decision day for the District 300 School Board.

The district's seven board members will vote on $8.3 million in proposed cuts for next year’s budget at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Westfield Community School, 2100 Sleepy Hollow Road in Algonquin.

Last year, the district cut $9.3 million and 114 teaching positions to deal with a budget crisis instigated when the state failed to make its payments.

Members of the School Board, the and the community have had two months to review the proposed reductions.

Last week, the board held a work session to hash out the final list of reductions to be considered.

Several of the 23 proposed reductions - those which board members have appeared to agree upon -- will be voted upon as one package. The largest of those cuts is $1.1 million in transportation expenditures. The district has already renegotiated its transportation contract with Durham School Services, saving $913,285.

Budget line-items that have drawn mixed opinions will be considered separately. Those items include:

• Increasing student registration fees by 5 percent next year, bringing an additional $71,226 revenue. District 300’s fees are lower than many area school districts, said District Spokeswoman Allison Strupeck. However, some board members are concerned any fee hike will impose a hardship on families, particularly those with multiple children.
• Eliminating the Preschool for All program for the 2011-2012, saving $761,295 (a change from Budget Reduction Version 2 that eliminated the program in 2012-2013). District 300 “has not received a dime” from Illinois to fund this program, which currently serves 460 students, Strupeck said.
• Restructuring the middle and high school programs in 2012-2013 saving $2.5 million. Options include shortening the school day and eliminating elective courses, focusing on core classes. The change would necessitate cutting 50 teaching positions.
• Eliminating the Alternative Education program at Oakridge School in 2012-2013, saving $575,000.

Four additional proposed reductions are dependent upon contract negotiations between the district and employee groups. Those include:

• $4.2 million in employee wage and benefit concessions.
• $1 million in insurance concessions.
• $124,131 by eliminating media teaching positions. Two media jobs held by teachers soon to retire would be eliminated. Related supplies, materials and purchased services also would be reduced.
• Custodian uniforms would be leased, not purchased, at a savings of $1,217.