Dear District 204 Community,
At Monday night's Board of Education meeting, we continued discussing the need to reduce next year's budget. As previously shared with you, in order to achieve a balanced budget next year, the board must cut $8.6 million from the 2012-13 budget. Administrators have worked hard to propose reductions instead of eliminations whenever possible. We have also continued to look for areas outside of the classroom.
Reductions to the high school athletic program have been proposed. Athletic Directors from each high school drafted a proposal to reduce $100,000 from the athletic budget while minimizing the impact on students. All high school sports will continue to offer multiple levels of opportunities. The proposal involves reducing coaching staff, reducing the number of games for some sports at some levels, and eliminating some "B" teams. For example, the girls' softball freshman "B" team will be eliminated, but the freshman "A" team, and all other levels of the sport, will remain. Opportunities for "B" team athletes may still exist on other levels. A complete list of proposed high school athletic reductions is available at Athletic Proposal.
The only sport that will be eliminated is at the middle school level. Administrators have proposed eliminating middle school soccer. Soccer was suggested after considering the impact on students, the availability of outside soccer opportunities in our community, and the fact that our middle school athletic conference is with Naperville School District 203, which does not offer middle school soccer.
When we asked our community and staff for ways we could achieve a balanced budget, we received more than 550 suggestions. A reoccurring theme in those suggestions was to focus on fees for participation. There is a proposed athletic/activity fee increase of $25 for middle school and $40 for high school. The fee cap per family will remain, so a family would not have to pay more than two fees per child, regardless of how many sports or activities they participate in during the year. While we understand fee increases can present challenges for families, the increase serves to avoid further cuts and is still less than the cost of similar programs offered outside the district and less than the actual program cost to the district. There is also a proposed fee increase of $10 for technology for all students, and a preschool tuition increase of $10. The general registration fee for each student will remain the same.
With a proposed reduction of 54.7 (2.6 percent) teaching positions, class size will increase in some areas. However, considering the size of our district, there should be minimal change, especially at the elementary school level. There will be no changes to class sizes in grades kindergarten through second. The proposal also calls for the reduction of 58.3 (6.6 percent) clerical and support staff positions, which includes secretaries and LMC assistants. We hope to be able to offer released staff the opportunity to fill openings that occur naturally through retirements and employees leaving the district.
As always, your support is greatly appreciated as we continue to work on implementation plans for the items the board approves. I will continue to communicate with you as we move forward.
More information on the district's budget is available at 2012-13 Budget. Videos from the board meeting are on 204tv.org.
Sincerely,
Kathy Birkett
Superintendent
