Dist. 33 makes cuts despite tax hike

By Jake Griffin, Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Thursday, April 27, 2004

Still struggling with balancing a budget despite the passage of a $3 million tax increase last year, West Chicago Elementary School District 33's board has approved nearly $450,000 worth of cuts for next year.

"This will hopefully balance us for next year," Superintendent Jon Mink said. "I don't think it solves the problem long term."

There are still many variables that affect the approved cuts, chief among them a new teachers contract.

The current, one-year teachers pay pact ends June 30, and district educators hope for a good deal since they agreed to forgo raises for this year to help balance the budget. That move was highly regarded as a key reason voters approved the tax increase last year.

Assistant Superintendent for Learning Ed Leman, who will replace Mink next school year, said next year's budget calls for at least a 2.4 percent increase in teacher salaries.

"We basically take a strategy of using the inflation rate as an estimate, and that's about the only thing we can go on until the negotiations are complete," he said.

Mink said the cuts come from different areas. Among them:

• Promoting current employees from within will save $21,000.

• Reducing the number of additional staff positions from 9.5 to five will save $180,000.

• Reallocating federal funding for reading and math programs will save $148,000.

• Cutting some standardized testing made superfluous by the No Child Left Behind federal mandate will save $35,000.

• Reducing the technology budget and using capital improvement funds to complete a computer networking project will save $60,000.

The district is also expecting to save another $34,000 by adding its dual language program to Turner School. Those savings occur because teacher positions will be reduced by combining classes.

Mink said there has been talk about increased funding from the state legislature, but he is skeptical about those funds because state funding has notoriously fallen short of expectations.

The district relies heavily on residential property taxes and has lobbied the city for years to spur commercial development within its borders to add to the tax base.

With two new car dealerships and several new small retail shops being created along the North Avenue corridor, those hopes look like they are finally being realized.

"I just hope we don't put too much false hope in that," Leman said. "We're really looking for that to give us some relief."