Officials cut OT

A delay of state aid payments could possibly leave Illinois Valley Central School District 321 with an estimated $712,000 budget deficit at the end of this fiscal year.

School board president Jim Hollenback revealed the budget shortfall to the board at its Jan. 26 meeting.

“We are taking action immediately in areas that we can to try and cut our cost without cutting our services offered,” Hollenback said.

When deciding how to trim spending, superintendent Dr. Nick Polyak said one of the first things the district looked at was how to handle overtime pay.

“We’re trying to find some different ways to cut our overtime spending,” Polyak said. “That’s one thing we can do this year.”

It is mainly maintenance and custodial staff who receive overtime pay, according to assistant superintendent Patrick Hatfield. While some overtime is unavoidable, the district asked administrators to adjust schedules and staff in a way that reduces overtime for scheduled events.

Most Illinois school districts are in similar situations because the state is about five months behind in state aid payments, said Hatfield.

Board members said the administration is in the process of meeting with faculty and discussing additional ways to eliminate spending.

“We don’t want to put the brunt of this on any one area, so we want to look for ways to make cuts administratively, ways to make cuts with the teaching staff and support staff and with our budgets,” Polyak said, adding the goal is to “make the least possible impact on the education of the
students.”

One way they have cut costs immediately was not purchasing three new school buses for next year. This cut will save the district about $250,000, Polyak said.

“Next year, it will be a different situation, unfortunately not a better situation the way things look,” Hollenback said

In other action and discussion, the board:

• heard a construction update for South School by Polyak. Crews are now working on the phone systems, and the heat will soon be turned on in the gym, he said.

• approved the retirements of the following faculty: Wendy Clary, principal at Mossville School; Dan Dietrich, band director at IVC High School; Barb Mosher, third-grade teacher at Mossville School; Marcia Olson, counselor at Chillicothe Elementary Center; and Bill Welch, social science teacher at IVC High School.

• announced the next board meeting will be Tuesday at CEC.