East Aurora School District 131’s school board has approved a budget for the school year — one that projects the district spending about $6.8 million more than it intends to take in as revenue.
The district’s projected expenses total around $272.4 million, which is up nearly $10 million from last year. Expected revenues are projected to come in at around $265.6 million this year, according to numbers provided by the district on Monday.
This fiscal year began on July 1, 2026, and extends through June 30, 2027.
A tentative budget for this fiscal year was put on display for the public to review last month, and Monday’s vote by the school board means it has now secured final approval.
Money from the state continues to be the district’s largest source of funds, representing about two-thirds of its total projected revenue for the year, according to a district presentation on Monday. Local and federal sources make up the rest.
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As for expenses, which amount to roughly $272.4 million, about $178.6 million is set to go toward salaries and employee benefits, with the rest going toward things like purchased services and supplies and materials, the district presentation indicated.
Those figures do not include $9 million in planned capital projects, which are slated to be funded through the selling off of lease certificates, per the district.
The district has healthy fund balances, district officials have said previously, and deficit budgets in recent years have been common in school districts.
Nevertheless, given that expenses are outpacing revenues as of this year, East Aurora is looking at some current and future cost-cutting measures. The district has already begun to save money through staff retiring and not replacing retirees with new hires. And, per Monday’s presentation, the district is also looking at things like how buildings are used and at securing additional grants.
One recent source of trouble, according to Associate Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer Michael Engel, when it comes to the district’s revenues is a shift in its designation from the state for the Evidence-Based Funding grant program.
East Aurora had long been deemed a Tier 1 district for the Evidence-Based Funding grant program, but last year was adjusted to Tier 2.
Evidence-based funding, or EBF, became law in 2017. Essentially, the Illinois State Board of Education combined multiple grant programs for school districts into one and now distributes it as “evidence-based funding.” The goal of the program is to provide equitable funding for districts in low-income communities and help them achieve adequate funding levels.
The funding relies on a distribution formula with tiers ranging from 1-4. A lower tier designation indicates that a district needs and receives more state assistance, according to the state board.
Another topic of concern has been falling student enrollment at East Aurora, with district leadership pointing to a need to potentially adjust its staffing levels to account for it.
East Aurora’s enrollment has been steadily declining in recent years, according to the most recent numbers available from the Illinois State Board of Education. The district’s total enrollment was just over 12,000 in 2025, down from more than 14,000 as recently as 2019.
All the while, the number of district staff members has increased, according to Monday’s presentation.
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“There are going to be some tough decisions to be made, to consider, to continue to have a solvent district moving forward for years to come,” East Aurora School District Superintendent Bob Halverson said Monday. “There will be some tough conversations that we will have to have … sooner rather than later as it pertains to making sure that we don’t run a deficit budget year after year.”