WHY IS HERSCHER CUSD #2 CONSIDERING CLOSING REDDICK GRADE SCHOOL?
Over the past few weeks, I have received several calls or e-mails from community members asking some great questions about the District. Specifically, folks are inquiring about why the Board is considering some dramatic action over the next couple of years. To try and answer some of these questions, we have placed a Power Point presentation on our website, we will be hosting a public Forum/Board Meeting on March 27th at 7 pm in the Herscher High School Gym and we also posted a survey on our District website. In addition, I will also try to explain our District's current situation below.
Current Fiscal Situation
Unfortunately, the District has been placed in the awful position of having to “cut” almost 2 million dollars from a budget of 23 million. We have made significant “cuts” in many areas including but not limited to: various supply budgets, kitchen staff, maintenance staff, custodial staff, administration, secretarial staff, teachers, transportation, food service and buildings and grounds personnel. In addition to this, we have implemented self-funded health care, re-negotiated numerous insurance policies and have joined a food co-operative to reduce costs. We are also actively looking at alternate ways to increase revenue.
All the “cuts” mentioned above total approximately $700, 000. Despite these “cuts” we are being told by the State (Governor and local representatives) to expect less General State Aid and severe “cuts” in Transportation funding for next year and future years. We receive approximately 5 million dollars in General State Aid and Transportation funding from the State. The State Superintendent notified School Superintendents earlier this month to expect GSA to go down to $5, 972/student from $6, 119/student (a loss of almost $150, 000 to our District) and to expect one less Transportation payment which is approximately another loss of $250, 000 to our District. In addition to this, costs are continuing to rise for various supplies (paper, ink, copy machine leasing, gas, etc..). Finally, we are also in negotiations with our teachers. If teachers receive a “soft freeze” (just receive step on the pay scale – approximately a 2% raise), it will cost the District approximately $170, 000. If we give our other employees (Educational Support Personnel and Adminstration) a 2% raise, it will cost the District approximately $130, 000.
So, the $700, 000 in “cuts” made this year, will likely result in a net “0” reduction in the deficit for next year. So, with burden of funding education being transferred entirely from the State to local school districts, the District is not left with many easy decisions. This may not be popular, but the only viable option seems to be that the District will need to increase revenue through local taxes (referendum or selling bonds) in order to maintain the high quality of education we currently have.
As a result, the BOE has tentatively planned on moving forward with a combination of making “cuts” and either attempting to pass a referendum or selling some sort of bonds to help minimize the effects of reduced funding.
Why Close Reddick Grade School?
These decisions lead to our current situation of deciding whether or not to close Reddick Grade School and then determine where students will attend school after RGS is potentially closed. First, the Board of Education is considering closing Reddick Grade School because of two main reasons: our District enrollment has decreased over 13% over the last 10 years and is projected to decrease even more over the next 10 years. So, there is not a need in the forseeable future for the space that RGS provides. Secondly, there will be significant cost savings to the District by closing RGS. Conservative estimates are that the District will save over $250, 000/year, not including the projected savings in transportation costs (Potentially another $100, 000 in savings).
Further, the reason why there will be significant savings in transportation is that we will be transporting less students from our western part of the District (Reddick/Campus areas) then we were to Reddick Grade School. The Reddick/Campus area constitute about 8.5% of the total enrollment of the District. Currently, we have 41 bus routes in the District. Depending on the option the BOE chooses, we believe we will be able to decrease the number of routes by 4-5 after the closing of RGS without increasing overall travel times for students. Our District goal is to keep routes under 60 minutes on a daily basis. We believe we can do this with two of the three options presented (We are still concerned about Option "B" with all 7th-8th grade students attending BGS. This will cause some issues and most likely will not lead to as much cost savings as the grade center options "A" and "C"). The possible reduction of bus routes is an additional savings of $80, 000-$100, 000 or more for the District.
Another issue that has risen is the idea that transportation times and costs under the three options for re-structuring will increase. This is simply not true. Now, this may be correct for individual students, but it is not a true statement overall for the District.
Re-Structuring Options
Each one the options for re-structuring presented has positive and negative aspects. After hearing from the public, the BOE will have the unfortunate task of deciding which option is best while considering the following issues: what option is best for students educationally, what option is the most cost effective, what option is best for the future of school district, what option is best for the individual communities in our district, what option is best for parents and other issues.
Unfortunately, the District has been place in the terrible position of having to make decisions that will cause a great deal of change and turmoil for our students in families. However, we believe if we work together we can maintain the excellent education and tradition of the Herscher School District!
