Bloomington-Normal’s strong economic growth last year likely will help Unit 5 use less borrowed money to balance its budget, when the fiscal year ends in June.
As part of a mid-year budget update Wednesday, finance staff told the school board that adjusted projections now call for approximately $6 million to be moved from working cash to the education fund.
That figure might sound high. But it actually represents a positive development — considering early budgeting called for $11 million, said Tommy Hoerr, Unit 5 financial services director.
“A big piece of that was the 2023 tax levy. The equalized assessed value [EAV] went up more than we anticipated when we actually created the budget,” he said.
Also at Wednesday’s meeting, administrators shared a draft of a 5-year strategic plan; and the board approved nearly $700,000 in building improvements spread across a half dozen schools.
Board member Jeremy DeHaai said the proposed strategy "provides a nice road map to be the best school district we can possibly be." The last time a strategic plan was adopted was 2016.
Mid-year budget update
Budget calculations show “a good outlook on where we might end up in June,” Hoerr told the board Wednesday at Normal Community West High School.
He focused his report on the district’s operating budget: That’s the funds that account for 80% of district revenue. The largest of those is the education fund, but also includes operations and maintenance, transportation, and tort funds.
In his presentation, Hoerr reminded the board the ed fund continues to struggle. Even though a successful referendum eventually should help, that tax rate increase won’t kick in until 2026.
“That means that we still are in deficit mode in the education fund,” said Hoerr. However, with the ed fund’s revenue projected to go up and its expenses to go down, less working cash is needed for the transfer.
“We’re spending less borrowed money than we thought we were going to have to, but we’re still spending borrowed money,” added DeHaai.
At the start of Fiscal Year 2024, the district expected the ed fund to have $123.2 million in revenue, but $133.4 million in expenses. But now year-end-projections call for $125.6 million in revenue, and $131.4 million in expenses.
The operations and maintenance fund has a year-end projection of $14.8 million; torte has about $6.2 million — both are right on track as projected, said Hoerr.
But the district’s transportation fund has proven challenging. Projections call for about $12.1 million in revenue, but $18.4 million in expenses. So the district also has to borrow to keep that balanced as well.
Since its original budget, Unit 5 has to spend an extra $570,000 on additional bus routes, as well as nearly $130,000 on equipment purchases.
The state continues to prorate Illinois school districts transportation funding. Hoerr said essentially there isn’t enough money to go around, so the state reduces the amount each district had been promised.
This year, Illinois is withholding about $2.2 million of the funding promised for the transportation fund. “That would go a long way to stabilize this fund,” said Hoerr.
Board member Amy Roser lamented that Unit 5 is expected to make up the difference when that revenue is lost.
Board reviews draft of proposed strategic plan
On Wednesday, district administrators shared a draft of the strategic plan being developed. They read mission and vision statements, and they offered academic outlines of big ideas and goals.
Board member Stan Gozur said he sees the strategic plan as a way to answer the questions: "What is the district doing to get better, and how is that measurable?"
Key areas of the new plan as described in the draft are integrity, belonging, engagement, team work and excellence.
The plan identifies a trio of focus areas as well: Inspiring a culture of learning, creating a foundation for the future, and building and strengthening our community.
Some tangible pieces of the plan include efforts to employ a teaching staff that reflects the demographic makeup of Unit 5 enrollment; developing financially sustainable models for top-notch programs, technology and facilities; and fostering a school district that interacts and communicates with the greater community surrounding it.
"Coming out of COVID, we've been talking about strategic plans and trying to refresh a lot of our goals and direction as to how we want to move forward in the district," said board member Kentrica Coleman.
The board saw only a draft Wednesday, but Coleman said it still was worth celebrating. "I would say that this is a huge accomplishment and milestone, as a part of the progress."
Superintendent Kristen Weikle said the draft would be available on the district's website and that feedback would be collected from staff, families, and others through February. Then, the plan's steering committees would tweak the document and bring it back to the board in a formal proposal next month.
Ideally, the board will adopt the new plan in April.
As a 5-year plan "the reality is we aren't going to be able to do this all in Year One," said Weikle. But she said she's confident that by 2030, the strategic plan's identified goals can be achieved.
Separately, Weikle encouraged families to complete the state’s annual 5Essentials Survey. That is open through March 29. It aims to capture details about how each Illinois public school operates. Students and family identities are not shared, according to information on Unit 5's website.
The 5Essentials Survey is available online in English or Spanish.
2024-25 school year calendar OK’d
The board voted 6 -1 to pass the academic calendar for next school year.
Member Mark Adams said he voted “no” to raise awareness that the district’s Aug. 15 first day of classes means students who take part in the Illinois State Fair might be in Springfield at that time.
Those students wouldn't be considered absent, but rather being involved in “a school-related activity,” said Weikle.
In other business, the board approved spending an estimated:
- $330,000 at Parkside Junior High, to bring its fire panel system up to code.
- $110,000 at Colene Hoose Elementary, to repair a water main.
- $35,000 at Glenn Elementary, for roof repairs.
- About $220,000, to improve three buildings’ energy efficiency capabilities — $100,000 at Evans Junior High, $80,000 at Prairieland Elementary; $40,000 at Towanda Elementary.
