The Orland Park Elementary District 135 board voted Monday to approve a budget for the current year and took steps toward hiring two new assistant principals.
The approved budget projects about $120 million in revenue and $133 million in expenses from July 1 through June 30, 2026. District 135 Finance Director Scott Beranek said about $13 million of expenses went toward construction projects completed over the summer, which were covered by selling bonds.
“If you were to remove the construction projects from the budget, it’s almost a balanced budget,” Beranek said.
Beranek said the district received less funding from the U.S. Department of Education than the year before in the form of Title II and Title III grants, which led the district to allocate more local funds to support existing programs.
The district received between $130,000 and $150,000 to support professional development through Title II grants and between $80,000 and $95,000 for English language supports, web-based programs and parent/community engagement through Title III grants. The fiscal year 2025 budget shows the district received about $200,000 in Title II grants and $97,000 in Title III grants.
Property tax billing delays are also affecting the district, Beranek said, as property taxes represent the district’s largest source of revenue.
While this year’s first installment bills were due March 4, the Cook County treasurer’s office has not yet announced when homeowners will receive their second installment bills. Last year, those bills were due Aug. 1 and Beranek said experts expect this year’s bills to be due Dec. 1.
“What that means for the district is we are basically using our fund balance to cover all of our expenses for the first six months of the school year,” Beranek said. Delays also mean the district is losing out on between $125,000 and $135,000 of interest income, he said.
The board last month briefly considered hiring additional assistant principals amid community concerns about the recent hiring of Tremaine Harris as assistant principal of Century Junior High, the District 135 school with the largest enrollment and most staff.
The board agreed Monday to begin searching for internal candidates to serve Park School and Center School while holding off on hiring another to join Harris at Century until the next school year.
Beranek said employment packages for three assistant principals would have cost the district between $340,000 and $400,000, depending on their elected medical benefits.
“We could handle that utilizing fund balance on it, but that is a board decision,” Beranek said.
With the school year underway, board members preferred searching for licensed staff members ready to take on the role of assistant principal to searching for candidates outside of the district.
“Externally, our applicant pool would be most people that are unemployed at this point, and then if it was somebody from a different district, you would have to get a release from that district for somebody to leave at that point, which is not generally what districts like to do,” Superintendent John Bryk said.
Board President Nichole Browner said she supported adding assistant principals at schools that don’t have one, including Park School and Center School, but reevaluating the need for another assistant principal at Century before the 2026-2027 school year. Board members Kelly Chmielewski, Patti Thanos, Linda Peckham-Dodge, Aisha Zayyad and Ray Morandi agreed.
Board member Alan Kastengren said because Park and Center schools serve fewer than 400 students each, he saw more need for another administrator at Century, which has a student population of about 650, according to Illinois Report Card data. Other schools in District 135 include Centennial School, High Point School, Liberty School, Meadow Ridge School, Prairie School, Jerling Junior High School and Orland Junior High School.
“I’m trying to think where is the greatest need for administrative support, and it’s hard for me to say that having one individually at Center and Park is where the most need is,” Kastengren said. “But I also understand the point that there’s more support needed.”
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Bryk said the district tried sharing one assistant principal between two smaller schools, but didn’t find it very successful. The board ultimately agreed to direct Bryk to search for internal candidates to serve each of the smaller schools.