Orland School District 135 officials are concerned a new regime in Springfield could be even more stingy with state dollars.
Through the first six months, the district has received only about a tenth of the $11.4 million promised for this fiscal year, said Carl Forn, district finance director. Delayed state dollars have been the norm for years, but Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner fanned fiscal fears by ordering a freeze of “nonessential” spending shortly after taking office Monday.
“We contacted the state comptroller’s office,” Forn said, recalling a November conversation. “The state comptroller’s response was: ‘We don’t know when we’re going to give you money. There is a new governor and the new governor is telling us to hold off.'”
The state finally gave the district $1.2 million last month, Forn said, but that’s down from the $2.1 million it had received by this time last year.
“I’m confident that we’re going to get the money; it’s just a matter of when,” board President Joe La Margo said. “That is exactly why we have a fund balance and a certain amount we want to keep in reserve, so that when payments from the state are coming in very slow, we have money to continue to pay our bills.”
District 135 is projected to end this budget year in June with more than $40 million in reserves — enough to cover six months of spending.
In Springfield, Rauner declared state finances a mess, and chose the Rev. James Meeks to chair the Illinois State Board of Education. Meeks, a Chicago Democrat, championed school funding reform as a state senator. Overhaul plans typically focus on shifting state money away from schools with solid local property tax bases, such as District 135.
Michael Carroll, board finance chairman, said a possible change to the funding formula looms.
“That’s the bigger issue going down the road. Right now I don’t think we have any concern about getting money that’s owed to us,” Carroll said.
Board members addressed two more financial pressures at their meeting Monday night.
La Margo read a letter from the Orland Council of Educators announcing that the teachers’ union is ready to begin negotiating a new contract. No terms have been discussed yet, he said.
The board, meanwhile, voted to oppose a petition drive by parents in two Orland Park subdivisions who want to leave Tinley Park-based Community Consolidated School District 146 and be served by District 135.
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The parents say shifting district borders would spare their children long bus rides. But La Margo said the move could potentially saddle District 135 with more students than it could handle in future years while sapping state funding from District 146.
“They would not like to lose the subdivisions because it would hurt them financially,” La Margo said. “We don’t want to do anything that is going to hurt any other school districts in the surrounding area.”