It is budget season for School District 57, and they are once again facing some difficult decisions brought on by a structural deficit.
That deficit is sitting at $2,073,958, which they will need to address before or at their final board meeting of the year in June.
“The intention is to remove the structural deficit as much as we possibly can this year,” Board Chair Craig Brennan explained to the media following this afternoon’s (Tuesday) board meeting.
“I know our staff is working very hard to identify areas that can be looked at so we indeed run a balanced budget in our school district. The process of going through all the recommendations is going to be onerous and the sum together is a daunting task.”
As a result, Brennan said this will be the board’s primary task in the month of May to have it ready for June.
In future years, Brennan hopes to have the budget done earlier so “we are not against a time pressure as well as the fiscal reality.”
Some cuts have already been proposed and can be seen here:
Even if they chose to make all these cuts, the board would still need to find $300,000 more.
The board will have a special open meeting on May 14th to try and work through these cuts, as well as their regular end of month meeting.
The board is looking for any suggestions or input from the public, you can find out more information and fill out a survey here.