State cutting funding for schools
Though the Vandalia Community School District finished the fiscal year in the black, the outlook for continuing funding from the state is decidedly gray.
Superintendent Rich Well said Tuesday that the new state budget allows the Illinois School Board only half the funding it had last year. If those numbers hold, several programs may have to be trimmed or cut out entirely, he said.
“If funding stays like it is now, we’ll have to evaluate the cost-efficiency of a couple of non-mandated programs,” Well said after Tuesday’s monthly school board meeting. “Pre-K may be reduced, and vocational funding is on the block. Hopefully, it doesn’t get to that, but we have to be prepared.”
Well offered the following assessment of the state funding situation in his report to the board: “For elementary and secondary education, over $100 million less was approved than was included in the previous budget bill. The per-pupil foundation level amount will be increased by $160 – not the $231 per pupil increase that was approved earlier. The foundation level for the 2009-2010 school year will be $6,119 per pupil. The mandated categorical grants are still supposed to be fully funded.
“Like other state agencies, the Illinois State Board of Education will receive a lump sum amount to fund the other budget line items for grants (truancy programs, reading block grants, early children block grants, etc.). This amount will roughly be 50 percent of the amount from last year. The ISBE has not yet announced how it plans to allocate these funds.”
Regarding the Vandalia district, Well said that the final figures for the fiscal year that ended June 30 will not be known precisely until the district’s annual audit is done this fall. But early indicators are that the district finished with a significant positive balance.
As of July 10, the district’s total balance of all accounts was $3,371,921. In the operating accounts over which the district has control of the spending (education, building, transportation and working cash), the year-end balance was $3,292,084.
The transportation account, in which the state had been behind in its payments most of the year, finished the year with only two of the anticipated four payments being made. Unfortunately, what would’ve been the state’s third payment wasn’t received until about the 3rd or 4th of July, meaning that those funds will be applied to the 2009-2010 budget year. That payment was for $150,000, Well said.
“We had to curtail some expenditures because we didn’t get the revenues last year,” Well said, noting that the district bought only one bus, rather than the two it had budgeted for the year.
“Due to the efforts of staff members throughout the district, we’re in solid financial shape,” he told the board. “I’m very proud of what we’ve done in the district – top to bottom. With state funding so up in the air, we have to hold on to every penny.”
Also at Tuesday’s meeting, which lasted only 35 minutes, the board took the following action:
• Approved bids for bread, milk, juice, foods and paper products to be used in the district’s cafeterias.
• Approved a bid of $64,700 from Lester Construction of Vandalia to construct a chair lift to the VCHS band room.
• Approved a special education workload plan.
• Approved the destruction of executive session audio recordings older than 18 months, in accordance with state law.
• Approved the employment of Brianne Henry as a vocational business instructor at the OKAW Area Vocational Center during a one-year leave of absence.
• Approved Henry as the Vandalia Junior High School cheerleading sponsor.
• Approved district fees and meal prices. Most fees and all the meal prices are the same as last year. New $5 lab fees will be introduced this year at VCHS in art, consumer science lab, accounting lab and industrial tech.
Basic registration fees are: Jefferson Primary ($38), Vandalia Elementary ($38), VJHS ($44) and VCHS ($80). Several other classes and activities require additional fees. For a full listing of fees, see the school district’s Web site: www.vcs.fayette.k12.il.us.
Meal prices for grades kindergarten through fourth are: breakfast: $1 per day or $5 per week and lunch: $1.75 per day or $8.75 per week. Both meals will cost $2.75 per day or $13.75 per week.
Meal prices for grades fifth though 12th are: breakfast: $1.05 per day or $5.25 per week and lunch: $2.10 per day or $10.50 per week. Both meals will cost $3.15 per day or $15.75 per week.
Absent from Tuesday’s meeting were board members Connie Goldsmith and Joe Lawson.
Registration for the 2009/2010 school year is Monday, Aug. 10, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. or Tuesday, Aug. 11, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The first day of class will be Friday, Aug. 21, with dismissal at 11:45 a.m. School will be dismissed one hour early each day the following week.
The next school board meeting is scheduled for Aug. 18 at 7 p.m.
