Peotone School District Feeling State Budget Crunch Lynn Dill January 01, 2009 | Peotone Vedette Like many school districts and other agencies that depend on state funding, Peotone Unit 207 school district is feeling the budget crunch. The district must continue to operate and pay its expenses even when the state fails to send reimbursements. "We're waiting to see if our state categorical grants will be honored," said Superintendent Kevin Carey at a school board meeting on December 15. Categorical grants include state and federal mandated programs such as special education, transportation and early childhood. To date the state is almost 90 days late in transportation reimbursements. For the past two years, Carey said, the state has reimbursed the district 100 percent of its transportation costs. However, this may change. According to the district's finance director Heather Rose, the state superintendent sent the district an email last week that said school districts are not guaranteed to receive all of their categorical grant reimbursements. "If we don't receive our transportation reimbursement, our shortfall could be almost $800,000," said Rose. The district budgeted one million dollars for this year's transportation budget and has only received $256,000 Ð leaving $784,000 in funds that may be in jeopardy. If the state fails to pay any of the other categorical grants, Rose said the district would lose an additional $367,000. "The email said that we're only guaranteed our general state aid," said Rose. Tax levy passed The school board approved a tax levy of $9,086,212 - a 4.8 percent increase over last year's levy. Since assessed valuation has increased from $370,906,741 in 2007 to an estimated $400,000,000, the district's tax rate will actually decrease from 2.442 in 2007 to 2.271 in 2008. New technology planned Technology Director John Williamson discussed improvements already made in the district's computer technology and plans for the future. He said a network closet has been relocated at the junior high and has resulted in better performance. The technology department also corrected a problem involving parents with AOL email accounts communicating with teachers. Williamson discussed plans for the district to upgrade to Power School Premier, a web-based student management system provided by Pearson Learning System. He said the pre-k through junior high schools will be switching to the new system this year, but said Pearson recommends waiting 'til the 09/10 school year to initiate the program at the high school. The additional time will allow the high school staff to input schedules for the upcoming year in the old system and then transfer this data to the new system. In response to questions by several board members, Williamson said he plans to discuss replacing outdated computer systems with Pearson. His goal is to replace the old technology over a period of years rather than purchasing new computers for the entire district at one time. Adult learning classes discussed Several teachers have submitted proposals for adult learning opportunities, including a conversational Spanish course and a Photo Shop class. Carey said the classes would be held at the high school two hours a week for a total of six weeks. He estimated the cost at $40 to $60 per student, depending on the number of students enrolled. He said the classes would be self-sufficient and would not cost the district any additional funds. If the board approves the classes at its January meeting, the courses will begin in the spring. Classes are open to adults 19 and older. Students of the month The board recognized Lucas Ryan as the December academic student of the month. Son of Juli and Robert Rivera of Peotone and Scott Ryan of Palos, Lucas is a freshman at Peotone High School with a grade point average of 5.0. He ranks first in his class of 158 students, based on grade point average. He is a member of the FFA, math club and the scholastic bowl team. He desires to attend college and pursue a career in genetics. Travis Samborski was honored as the Kankakee Area Career Center's Student-of-the-Quarter for Welding I. Son of Lynn Stasko of Peotone and Bruce Samborski of Monee, Travis has shown course-content knowledge and a desire to lead, along with exhibiting characteristics that place him at the top of his class. The board also recognized the junior high students of the month who demonstrated outstanding behavior, good work ethics and "have gone above and beyond the call of duty" at Peotone Junior High. Honored were Mathew Dunahoo, sixth grade; Abigail Smaga, seventh grade and Derrick Vincent, eighth grade. _

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