Elmhurst District 205 School Board Gives Final Nod to 2011-'12 Budget

Elmhurst Unit District 205 School Board gave final approval to a balanced $109.5 million budget Tuesday.

The budget reflects a net in expenses. About $1 million was added to areas that include the gifted program (REACH), literacy support, special education and early childhood. 

to parents, the elimination of 11 teacher and seven support staff positions, and a slight increase in average class size helped the district avoid the need to borrow money to pay its bills.

“This was not accomplished without sacrifice from a variety of stakeholders,” said Chris Whelton, assistant superintendent for finance and operations. “We will have to continue to cut spending to maintain a balanced budget, since revenues are projected to remain flat while expenses continue to climb greater than the rate of inflation, not only in Elmhurst, but in school districts across the state of Illinois.”

About 80 percent of expenses are allocated to salaries and benefits. Uncontrolled factors that increase expenditures include enrollment increases, unfunded or underfunded mandates, and variable health care costs.

About 90 percent of revenues for this school year will come from property taxes; only 6.7 percent will come from the state of Illinois. The budget also takes into account the possibility of delayed or unmade payments from the state.

“This is a conservative budget that includes only three out of four quarterly state categorical grant payments for mandated programs," Whelton said. "Even though historically the state has never missed a payment, we are in uncharted waters here.”

Superintendent Dave Pruneau said there is potential for tracking salaries and benefits through "position control."

This process looks at positions rather than employees. A budgeted cost is determined for each position, and as employees change jobs within an organization, the position they were in maintains its budgeted cost independently. More than one employee can be assigned to a position, or one employee can be assigned to multiple positions.

"(This) will allow us to more accurately predict the cost of programs and help us with long-range planning,” Pruneau said.