Less important than how many were laid off was how many would be rehired next year. The answer there is a really big question mark since legislators in Springfield are debating cuts to state education funding in their own information vacuum. Governor Pat Quinn won't provide details of his proposed budget until Wednesday.
District Financial Officer Cheryl Crates laid out the numbers for three formal scenarios, bad, worse and worst. She warned, however, that even those may prove optimistic. "The word on the street is they won't tell us until November how much they'll reduce out revenues by," Crates said, noting the new school year will begin July 1.
The Board has already lopped (or promised to) $5.4 million from next year's budget with another $1.5 million still on the block but Crates said as much as $8.5 million more might need to be sacrificed if the state goes into meltdown.
Stevens probably summed up the Board's preference for a balanced budget when he said, "otherwise we're just going to play catchup digging ourselves out of a hole."
The $1.5 million in cuts due for vote April 26 involve transportation spending including bussing for the dual language program and for parochial school students.
St. Margaret Mary School Board President Dennis Wiener warned the D300 Board against static analysis. "If only 11 (parochial) students transfer to your district the cost of educating them will exceed the savings," he said.
In the pic: Two TV crews including one from the BBC (?) turned up to cover D300's overflow board meeting Monday.
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