Budget Calls for Higher District 219 Spending

Niles Township High School District 219 board members got their first look at a proposed budget that calls for increased spending during the 2011-12 school year despite efforts to keep it lean.

Under the fiscal plan, spending would go up 4.3 percent to $147.3 million and the operating expense per pupil would rise 7.63 percent to $26,393. However, the actual operating expense per pupil could be lower.

Revenue is projected to rise 4.33 percent to $152.8 million, with 95 percent coming from local sources, chiefly property taxes, according to the budget report. The increase in revenue isn't attributed to one variable in particular, rather it's simply the amount of money the district plans to capture.

Since it is a preliminary estimate, the proposal will likely change before the board votes June 27 to officially post the tentative budget for public comment. Final approval of a spending plan is scheduled for Aug. 15.

Before then, a special finance committee meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. June 22 so Paul O’Malley, the assistant superintendent for business, can answer questions from school board members.

Superintendent Nanciann Gatta told board members that she was still looking for ways to trim spending, although the education fund has the largest share of expenses, which include salaries and benefits agreed to under collective bargaining contracts.

The budget assumes a 1.52 percent increase in spending on administrative salaries, but Gatta said she expects to hold that line item flat.

“I’m not satisfied with this number,” she told the board. “We are still looking to change this and reduce this.”

The school superintendent also pointed out that a restructuring plan approved in April helped keep the spending projections from going even higher.

at a savings of nearly $1 million. However, some of the money saved was reinvested in priority areas such as math and English.

“Without those strategic reductions, this number could be even higher,” Gatta said of the increase in operating expense per pupil. “It could be 10 percent or more--the way it used to be before we started the restructuring.”

Operating expense per pupil has been a sore point for school board members and administrators, because , the last year for which complete statewide numbers are available.

Susan Husselbee, the district’s director of fiscal services, noted that the budget is balanced, with $5.5 million more in projected revenues than in projected expenses.

Earlier forecasts had the district’s expenses exceeding its revenues in this budget year. Then the school board embarked on a three-year effort to restructure and trim costs, putting off the time when spending is expected to exceed revenue to fiscal 2013.