Du Quoin schools prepare for worst with budget
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<div class="PlainText">Du Quoin School Superintendent Gary Kelly shared a nasty rumor with the school board at last week's meeting. It comes straight out of Springfield, where the nastiness is equal parts partisanship and showmanship.<br /> "We are forced to amend our budget because we are operating with less revenue, and that's because we have received only two of our four categorical aid payments from the state," Kelly said. "But just this week, I heard that we may only get one payment, instead of two. We can just manage with two. We can't with one. That would force us to consider other funding options."<br /> While the state has resumed passing out the regular state aid twice a month - albeit at a 2009 level - categorical funding has lagged dramatically. In fact, the fourth and final payment for the 2015-16 school year, due last summer, was just received by the district in February.<br /> "We must still transport students and provide other mandated programs despite the state's delayed payments," Kelly said.<br /> Illinois mandates that each public school district must provide special education and student transportation services and provides some categorical funds to support those mandates. Under the current state funding formula, Du Quoin is owed about $420,000 annually in categorical funding.<br /> "With no state budget in sight, that's money the district can no longer count on," Kelly said. "Other districts are in the same trouble. Some schools may not be able to start this fall if the state doesn't pay what it owes."<br /> Du Quoin has had a balanced budget since the 2015-16 school year, after three years of dipping into reserves to pay bills. Next year is the fourth and last year of the district's deficit reduction plan, so it's still operating on thin margins.<br /> Kelly blames a lot of that financial difficulty and belt-tightening on the state's budget stalemate and "nearly eight years of volatility" in Springfield, estimating that Du Quoin is owed about $4 million in delinquent aid the state never sent from 2012 through 2015, and which he doubts they'll ever see.<br /> "That loss of revenue will result in deficit spending, mostly in our transportation fund," he said. "So, the amended budget will show less revenue in some funds and a change in the use of some of our general state aid to offset the loss of transportation revenue. That revenue will eventually come, we hope, but may not be received until next year."<br /> Kelly shared details of the district's amended budget with board members and with the public. <span class="contextualExtensionHighlight ms-font-color-themePrimary ms-border-color-themePrimary ident_2632_2793" tabindex="0">The budget is now on display at the superintendent's office, where it will remain for the required month, and will likely be adopted at the May 18 board meeting.</span><br /> There are other options that the board may have to consider to cover the shortfall in state aid.<br /> "We have gotten away from temporary borrowing, but we may have to in May," Kelly said. "Until then, we will can move some dollars around."<br /> The board and superintendent are also just beginning to prepare the district budget for the 2018-19 school year, and find themselves struggling with the same issues.<br /> Kelly said property tax and sales tax revenue should be constant and steady next year. He doesn't anticipate any increase in state aid and can't count on the state solving its budget impasse. That means the school district must prepare for the same exaggerated delays in categorical aid, he said.<br /> "There was a time when we knew what we were getting from the state," he said. "That is no longer the case. So, we must prepare, as much as possible, for the worst-case Springfield scenario."<br /> <span class="contextualExtensionHighlight ms-font-color-themePrimary ms-border-color-themePrimary ident_3684_3812" tabindex="0">A budget hearing and formal vote on approval of the amended budget will take place at the monthly board meeting Thursday, May 4.</span></div>
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