Finances

Promises Made

Promises Kept
  • Limiting rate increase that will offer a long-term, sustainable solution for managing its structural deficit, and provide funding that will be invested in the educational experience for its students.
  • Starting with FY2014, the Board of Education has committed to reduce gross expenditure growth by 1.25 percent on an annual basis
  • The district's five-year projections highlight that, even with the infusion of additional funding from the successful passage of the referendum, careful monitoring of spending and sound fiscal management are required to ensure our financial stability through June 30, 2018. With this in mind, there has been a line added under expenditures in the Education Fund starting in FY2014 that is called Referendum Commitments. This line represents the board's commitment to reduce gross expenditure growth by 1.25 percent on an annual basis starting in FY2014.

Promises Made

Promises Kept
  • The district will continue to exercise the same sound fiscal management it has exhibited during the past decade.
  • One-year wage freeze for all employees for the 2011-2012 school year, which resulted in savings of more than $1 million.
  • The district's budget for 2011-2012 is $80,754,512 ($69,291,314 for Operating Funds and $11,463,198 for Non-Operating Funds. This budget features an increase of 0.8 percent from last year.
  • District had an unqualified audit for 2011-2012, which means it financial statements are materially correct and are in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.
  • Staffing decreased by 1.61 FTE for the 2011-2012 school year.
  • Performed residency verification for approximately 3600 families/5600 students during the summer of 2011 to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being invested in the education of the children who reside in Oak Park.

Promises Made

Promises Kept
  • Make nearly $1.3 million in reductions that are aimed at improving the efficiency of the district's current operations and enhancing the educational experience for students.
  • Made approximately $1.3 million in reductions in conjunction with the development of the budget for 2011-2012 school year, which included reductions in administrative and support staff and restructuring of the district's Multicultural Department and summer school program.

Promises Made

Promises Kept
  • Save many if not all of the programs and positions that would have been cut if the referendum failed.
  • Following the election on April 5, 2011, restored the programs and positions that would have been cut if the referendum did not pass, including the CAST and BRAVO programs, fourth and fifth grade instrumental music, the elementary school foreign language program (FLES), and elementary art positions.

Promises Made

Promises Kept
  • Invest in initiatives such as the increased integration of technology in the classroom, the enhancement of its foreign language and arts programs, and the transformation of schoolyards into outdoor learning environments—all of which are part of its preferred vision for the future and are aimed at helping kids develop into 21st Century learners.
  • Enable the district to use its Debt Service Extension Base to fund future capital improvement projects.
  • On August 23, 2011, the board received a presentation about the options and opportunities available via the Debt Service Extension Base (DSEB) to fund some of the district's future capital projects, as well as the items included in the preferred vision (increased integration of technology, enhancement of the foreign language and arts programs, and the transformation of schoolyards into outdoor learning environments, etc.) that was presented during the referendum campaign.