Story by Kevin Woodard
Unit 5 School District is moving forward with its community involvement effort to involve the public in solving the budget crisis it says it has leaving them needing an $11 million increase for next year without really providing numbers that back up that claim. Quite frankly the items they are trying to use to justify the increase don’t indicate why the need they claim is required impacts the budget increase from the 2022/23 fiscal year to the 2023/2024 budget year and beyond. Still there should be good information coming from the effort.
Unit 5 is arguing that; the 2008 referendum, the real estate crash, decreases in state funding, unfunded mandates and growing student social needs are to blame. As Cities 92.9 has previously documented: the 2008 referendum does not impact the structural budget, real estate has rebounded, the state decreased funding over five years ago and unfunded mandates are a fact of life. The only thing that at least partially explains why next years budget needs to be higher is responding to social needs of students.
What the public needs to see is a comparison of the 2022/23 budget to the forecast budget for 2023/24 that shows the so called $11 million deficit.
During the past two weeks it has been pointed out to Unit 5 that Rivian has a tax abatement that is close to expiring that should result in more tax dollars for Unit 5.
The school district could get money from that tax abatement. According to the Director of Financial Services they are considering that possible revenue.
“We have looked into that. A lot of the evaluations of that property haven’t been finalized yet and so it’s still too early determine what that amount would be once that abatement rolls off. So we definitely are looking into that . We just don’t have a solid number that we can really count on right now,” Director of Financial Services Tommy Hoerr.
With phase one of the community involvement plan completed unit five is now in the middle of phase two. At last night’s meeting at Parkway Jr. High School attendees were asked to rank priorities regarding what to cut if cuts were necessary and what they would like to see expanded if additional revenues allowed.
Options for cuts were; increase class sizes, reduce program offerings, reduce extracurricular activities, shorten school days, decrease staff, close school buildings and increase fees.
Options for opportunities presented include; lower class sizes, expand program offerings, increase student resources, implement accelerated education, enhance 21st century learning, improve student drop off and pick up, improve safety and security, increase space in buildings and install turf at athletic fields.
Attendees were then asked to rank funding levels between an $11 million budget increase and a $23 million increase. Property taxes to fund this would increase for a homeowner of a $180,000 property from $284 a year to $543 a year. Notably no options were provided for a stand still budget or a budget increase of say $5 million. It does appear that the process at a minimum may be leading toward budget increase options for the public to discuss.
Those in attendance were then given an opportunity to share any additional notes, feedback or comments.
While the numbers involved in the discussion to date have been for the most part missing the feedback the unit will receive from the public should at least provide direction regarding what the community values the most and should serve to guide the administration through the budget process.
Superintendent Kristen Weikle is to be commended for taking the lead in these presentations. She makes them herself when she could easily pawn that off on subordinates or the consultant. And she “takes the arrows” professionally without complaint.
The next Phase 2 meeting is scheduled for Monday May 23 at Normal Community High School at 6:00 pm. A virtual meeting will also be held on Tuesday May 24th at 6:00 pm.
Weikle encourages, “the community to come out to community engagement sessions.”
