Three members of the Niles Township High School District 219 School Board took issue with an amended budget unveiled Tuesday night that included a nearly $5 million increase in expenditures from the budget initially approved by the board in September.
The board voted 4-3 to place the district’s amended $168 million 2015/16 budget on public display for 30 days. The group also voted unanimously and for the final time to approve an overall increase of three percent in the district’s tax levy.
The three percent increase in spending from the roughly $163 million budget previously adopted by the board comes after the district’s elected officials ordered staff to conduct a line-by-line review of the document. The first budget included across the board decreases in spending on educational programs and other items resulting in pushback from community members.
“I don’t see this increase as changing in a direction I, as a board member, want to go in,” said board secretary Brian Novak. “Whatever we need to do to tighten our belts more I think we need to do.”
The amended budget includes a $34.6 million spending increase over last year, said the district’s assistant superintendent for business, Eric Trimberger. A major portion of the increase, he said, is related to the district’s recent purchase of three pieces of property in Niles for roughly $2.5 million that will ultimately serve as a bus terminal in the 6100 block of Howard Street and the 6000 and 6100 blocks of Gross Point Road, in addition to the acquisition of 55 new school busses — a $4.9 million expense. Trimberger assured the board that these items represented a one-time expense.
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The new fleet of buses, operated by First Student, Inc., a Chicago-based school bus transportation company, were purchased after the district severed ties with Evanston-based bus company Positive Connections.
The amended budget includes an additional $2 million worth of expenditures related to the transportation shift, Trimberger said.
He said the change in bus service has resulted in a significant rise in ridership and an increase in the number of routes. The district is currently running 54 routes in the morning and slightly fewer in the afternoon, Trimberger said. Industry standard says the district should maintain a 10 percent spare factor in case a bus breaks down or needs to go in for service, he said. He said staff will discuss with First Student, Inc. whether or not the number of routes can be reduced, but if not, the district will need to spend an additional $540,000 to purchase six more buses in order maintain a 10 percent spare factor.
Trimberger said the district will know for sure before the board adopts a final budget in mid January.
The amended budget also includes the restoration of $900,000 for purchased services — which covers a range of items from contract repairs to travel expenses and professional development training — as well as the re-installment of $600,000 for educational supplies, Trimberger said. An additional $300,000 in benefits spending was added after errors in the initial budget were corrected during staff review of the document, Trimberger said.
Cuts to the district’s field trip budget, and funding for the Green Council for School Improvements organization were also partially restored, he said.
Board member Ruth Klint called the amended budget “egregious” and specifically referred to the increase in operating expense per pupil (OEPP).
The OEPP, which is determined by dividing how much is spent per student by the district’s average daily attendance over the 9-month school year, increased by nearly $1,000 from the initial budget to roughly $25,300 in the amended version, Trimberger said in an interview following the meeting.
“As a representative of stakeholders in this community, you’ll never convince me this OEPP is palatable to the residents of Skokie, Lincolnwood, Niles and Morton Grove,” Klint said.
Klint, Novak and board member Carlton Evans voted against the motion to place the document on public display, while board president Mark Sproat, vice president Linda Lampert, secretary pro tem David Ko and member Joseph Nowik voted in favor.
Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.