By Chris Fox
For The Elmhurst Independent
The Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 Board held a regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 21 at the District 205 Center, 162 S. York St. All seven board members attended the meeting.
Immediately before the regular meeting, the board held a brief public hearing regarding the district’s 2021-22 annual budget. Board members voted unanimously during the regular meeting to approve a resolution adopting the budget for the district’s 2021-22 fiscal year. Christopher Whelton, the district’s assistant superintendent of finance and operations, spoke during the hearing. Whelton highlighted the district’s operating fund, which has projected revenues of about $142.3 million in its 2021-22 fiscal year. Expenditures are projected at about $141 million, resulting in net income of about $1.3 million during the fiscal year. That income of $1.3 million is expected to boost the district’s operating fund balance to about $62.7 million by the end of the 2021-22 fiscal year.
According to budget information on the district’s website, the district’s operating fund included revenues of about $108.8 million and expenditures of about $110.6 million during its 2014-15 fiscal year. The district’s operating fund revenues, therefore, have increased about 30.8 percent from the 2014-15 fiscal year to the 2021-22 fiscal year, while expenditures rose about 27.5 percent during the same period.
Whelton noted that the district’s operating fund does not include funds from the $168.5 million referendum of November 2018. Those referendum funds are paying for several capital improvement projects, including the construction of new Field and Lincoln elementary schools. Whelton mentioned that the district issued $60 million in referendum bonds in August 2019. The district issued another $39 million in referendum bonds in November 2020. An additional $45 million in bonds were issued in April 2021. Whelton said the remaining $24.5 million in bonds related to the $168.5 million referendum will be issued in the spring of 2023.
Whelton stated during the Sept. 21 budget hearing that property tax revenues account for about 83.6 percent of the district’s revenues. He also said that salaries and benefits account for about 75 percent of the district’s expenditures.
Whelton said that the district had 615 certified staff members during its 2011-12 fiscal year. The district expects to have about 710 certified staff members during its 2021-22 fiscal year.
Board member Jim Collins said the district’s student enrollment has risen by about 200 students during the decade it has added about 100 certified staff members. Collins said that trend is dangerous to the district’s budget, and that the district can’t keep adding staff at that rate and stay solvent.
Board member Athena Arvanitis said that education is changing, and that escalating school staffs and costs are not isolated to District 205. Board member Karen Stuefen stated that the district’s rate of new construction will eventually slow down. She said that eventual decrease will have an impact on the district’s revenues.
Update on facilities construction
The regular meeting of Sept. 21 included a facilities construction update. Todd Schmidt, the district’s director of facilities, was one of the speakers during the update. Schmidt spoke about some projects related to the $168.5 million referendum that will feature additional scope beyond what was proposed at the time of the referendum. The latest plan to build the new Field Elementary School, for example, now has a projected cost of more than $36 million, about $7 million more than the projected cost at the time of the referendum. The latest plans for the new school, however, feature about 11,000 additional square feet of space. The renovations at Fischer Elementary School, originally slated at about $5.3 million, now have an estimated cost of about $8.8 million. The current renovation plans at Fischer, however, include additional classroom space.
The renovation project at Jackson Elementary School currently has an estimated cost of about $6.9 million, which is about $1.3 over the original referendum budget. The current renovation project, however, features an addition to the school’s media resource center.
The construction project to build the new Field school, as well as the renovation projects at Fischer, Jackson and Jefferson elementary schools, are scheduled to begin in 2022. The renovation project at the York High School auditorium, which will cost about $7 million, should also begin in 2022.
Schmidt said that the district’s project to install a synthetic turf field in front of York High School could take place in the middle of October. The field will be installed above the City of Elmhurst’s underground storm water project.
Annual resolution approved
Board members voted unanimously during the meeting to approve a resolution to transfer about $1,170,000 from the district’s education fund to its debt service fund for the purpose of payment of technology leases. Whelton said board approves a similar resolution each year.
Students now in 5th week of in-person instructions
District 205 Superintendent Keisha Campbell noted during the meeting that the district was in its fifth full week of in-person instruction of the 2021-22 school year. Campbell mentioned that it was homecoming week at York High School. She said the week-long festivities would include an outdoor pep rally on the football field on Friday, Sept. 24. She said the school’s homecoming dance on Sept. 25 would be held outdoors so students could attend mask-free. She said that students would be asked to wear masks if they went inside the school.
Staff required to vaccinate or face weekly testing
Campbell mentioned that beginning the week of Sept. 20, staff members who had not been vaccinated against COVID-19 would be required to submit to weekly COVID-19 testing. Campbell and other district administrators also told the board that the district was working on bringing a more robust testing plan to its schools in an effort to reduce the number of students who would be subjected to COVID-19 related quarantines. The onsite testing would help to allow asymptomatic unvaccinated students who had close contact with a COVID-19 positive student the option to continue attending school instead of facing a quarantine period.
The board will hold its next regular meeting on Oct. 12.
