District 205 Superintendent Ralph Grimm told the school board last night that the district’s deficit spending must end.
That’s why he’s proposed raising property tax rates to get a balanced budget by fiscal year 2018. The school district is currently about $1.2 million dollars in the red.
Grimm suggested last night increasing the tax levy by 35 cents along with an unknown amount of budget cuts.The proposed tax increase would bump the current levy to $5.05 up from the $4.70 the average $50,000 a homeowner pays now.
Despite a dip in enrollment over the past year Grimm tells WGIL he feels it’s the state’s school funding formula that’s to blame.
But he says he’s optimistic that state legislators will finally update the formula.
“This is probably the most work done that I’ve ever seen in my 33 years on revising the formula,” Grimm says. “There has to be a significant political will to do it, because there has got to be an influx of new money.”
Grimm says he’ll have a few options for the board to consider next month. The board also had more discussion last night on the district’s dual-enrollment courses in coordination with Carl Sandburg College.
A vote was tabled and will be discussed further at a later meeting.
