By Sam Thomas
District 87 will once again operate in the red for the 2016-17 school year.
A tentative budget was rolled out at Wednesday night’s school board meeting that indicates a $1.4 million deficit in the education fund.
Superintendent Barry Reilly said no one wants to operate in the red, but he’s hopeful that deficit can be reduced as the year progresses.
“It wouldn’t surprise if…we’re able to reduce that projected deficit,” Reilly said. “But no one likes staring at another deficit. We’ve been doing that for several years now and I’d much rather see our revenues go up.”
The school district approved a budget $1.5 million in the red for the 2015-16 school year, but was able to reduce that deficit to under $1 million. Reilly said declining revenues have led to the current situation.
“[Revenues] are what is driving everything. We saw a chart that compared 2007 to 2017 and the growth during that period has not been very substantial,” he said.
Public comment will be heard during next month’s school board meeting prior to final approval.
A new position at District 87 schools was also approved at Wednesday night’s school board meeting.
District 87 unanimously authorized the creation of an Armed Safety and Security Officer for the 2016-17 school year.
Superintendent Barry Reilly said the position will be filled by the district’s current resource officer and won’t pull any money away from the general education fund.
“For us, it was a win-win situation,” Reilly said. “His role is considered risk management, which qualifies and doesn’t take away from the education fund that pays for teachers and supplies.”
Reilly added that rather than having to share a resource officer with other districts, the new position will exclusively serve District 87 schools.
Sam Thomas can be reached at Sam@WJBC.com.
