School Board releases tentative budget

The District 54 School Board released a tentative version of its 2010-11 budget at its July 8, 2010, meeting.

District 54 expects to spend $238,078,823 during the 2010-11 budget year and receive $229,572,321 in revenues.

District 54 developed the 2010-11 budget based on the following parameters:

• There will continue to be a freeze on overall cumulative spending in supplies, purchased services and capital outlay. The only exception is in the Operations and Maintenance and Construction funds, where the cost of services, such as electricity, can’t be controlled.
• District 54 will issue no new debt and be debt free in fiscal year 2012.
• Interest income has declined. District 54 projects interest factors of less than 3 percent.
• Federal aid is estimated to drop back to 2009 levels in 2011 because the ARRA money is currently set to sunset.
• State aid is expected to remain flat. District 54 does not know how much revenue it will receive from the state for the current year or for any projected year because of the funding deficiencies facing the state.
• Property tax levies use the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the previous calendar year. The actual CPI in calendar year 2009 was 2.7 percent, but it is estimated to be 2.2 percent in 2010-11.
• Benefit costs are projected to increase by about 5 percent annually, with the biggest increase in HMO medical costs, which are projected at a 7.5 percent increase.

District 54 receives less than 20 percent of its revenue from state and federal sources, compared to the “average Illinois school district,” which receives almost 38 percent of its revenue from state sources and about 9.3 percent from federal sources.

The tentative budget will be available at the District Office through Sept. 16. On Sept. 16, a public hearing on the budget will be held at 7 p.m. in the boardroom of the District Office,
524 E. Schaumburg Road in Schaumburg (prior to the School Board meeting that evening). The School Board is expected to adopt a budget at its Sept. 16, 2010 meeting.

Individual Fund Summary