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Riverside Brookfield High School Township District 208 is facing a $2.3 million dollar deficit, and tentative referendum talks are in the works.
At the end of April, the board will update its long-range financial projections and begin discussing the possibility of asking voters for a referendum to raise taxes.
At a meeting April 13, interim Superintendent David Bonnette recommended the School Board begin savings funds and reducing their deficit with moderate layoffs.
“If we were going to not renew teachers, they would need to know 45 days before the end of the school year if they are probationary teachers, and 60 days before the end of the year if they are tenure teachers,” Bonnette said. “At the meeting, we are going to have a group of teachers that will be recommended for tenure, some probationary teachers that will be recommended for another year of probation and a few people whose contracts will not be renewed due to performance or financial reasons.”
Results were unavailable since the meeting took place after Suburban Life’s publication deadline.
Bonnette said there will also some retiring teachers whose contracts will not be renewed. He could not give specific numbers on the layoffs.
“There is not a simple answer to the staff reduction question,” Bonnette said via e-mail.
Bonnette said the layoffs would save the school about $500,000 to $600,000 and would be less drastic than the cuts necessary to reach a balanced budget.
“It is not my recommendation to the board that they make the deep cuts that would produce a balanced budget,” Bonnette said.
The school could see an additional $300,000 in revenue coming from increased student fees, reduced cost for special education transportation and revenue from a local cellular tower.
In a phone interview Friday, School Board member Matt Sinde said moderate layoffs are not enough.
“I’m in the minority, and my opinion is that we need to make bigger cuts than we’re proposing right now,” Sinde said.
Sinde said his issue with the current proposal is the cuts that were shown will not help lower the deficit enough to balance the budget if the referendum fails in 2011.
“The people in the community want us to show them that we are sincere about making cuts and being fiscally responsible,” Sinde said. “That’s what we ran on when we were elected last year. I think that if you have a deficit, you can’t just leave it — you need to be able to address it, work with it, and eliminate it.”
The fees will be discussed at a meeting in May, and the budget will go on display in June.
Riverside Brookfield High School Township District 208 is facing a $2.3 million dollar deficit, and tentative referendum talks are in the works.
At the end of April, the board will update its long-range financial projections and begin discussing the possibility of asking voters for a referendum to raise taxes.
At a meeting April 13, interim Superintendent David Bonnette recommended the School Board begin savings funds and reducing their deficit with moderate layoffs.
“If we were going to not renew teachers, they would need to know 45 days before the end of the school year if they are probationary teachers, and 60 days before the end of the year if they are tenure teachers,” Bonnette said. “At the meeting, we are going to have a group of teachers that will be recommended for tenure, some probationary teachers that will be recommended for another year of probation and a few people whose contracts will not be renewed due to performance or financial reasons.”
Results were unavailable since the meeting took place after Suburban Life’s publication deadline.
Bonnette said there will also some retiring teachers whose contracts will not be renewed. He could not give specific numbers on the layoffs.
“There is not a simple answer to the staff reduction question,” Bonnette said via e-mail.
Bonnette said the layoffs would save the school about $500,000 to $600,000 and would be less drastic than the cuts necessary to reach a balanced budget.
“It is not my recommendation to the board that they make the deep cuts that would produce a balanced budget,” Bonnette said.
The school could see an additional $300,000 in revenue coming from increased student fees, reduced cost for special education transportation and revenue from a local cellular tower.
In a phone interview Friday, School Board member Matt Sinde said moderate layoffs are not enough.
“I’m in the minority, and my opinion is that we need to make bigger cuts than we’re proposing right now,” Sinde said.
Sinde said his issue with the current proposal is the cuts that were shown will not help lower the deficit enough to balance the budget if the referendum fails in 2011.
“The people in the community want us to show them that we are sincere about making cuts and being fiscally responsible,” Sinde said. “That’s what we ran on when we were elected last year. I think that if you have a deficit, you can’t just leave it — you need to be able to address it, work with it, and eliminate it.”
The fees will be discussed at a meeting in May, and the budget will go on display in June.
