“We are in cash-cutting mode.” Lake Local Schools reviewing finances after levy failure

Patricia Faulhaber
·3 min read

LAKE TWP. − After the disappointing failure of a 9.9-mill levy request on Nov. 7, the Lake Local Schools Board of Education is reviewing its five-year forecast and the superintendent's recommendation for immediate budget cuts.

The board did not vote on any issues during Tuesday's work session but is considering another levy attempt in March.

Superintendent Kevin Tobin and Treasurer Nicole Nichols went over the changes to the five-year forecast passed in May. The board will vote on the newly revised forecast at the next regular board meeting scheduled for 6 p.m. Nov. 20 at Lake Elementary School cafetorium.

The district is facing a projected deficit of $3.1 million during the 2024-2025 school year. The rejected five-year levy proposal would have generated $6.3 million per year and would have been used to pay operating expenses.

Planned cuts for next year include 10 more staff reductions (nine teachers and one secretary), changes in the busing of students and possible continued cuts in programming. The 10 additional staff reductions added to the cuts for this year will bring the total to 25.

Tobin is recommending the board put the 9.9-mill, five-year levy back on the ballot in March. Nichols said if the levy passes in March, the district will not see the revenue until 2025, which would still mean a deficit in 2024.

Tobin also recommended the board consider immediate cuts such as canceling field trips, adding on the $950 pay-for-play athletic fees and not opening the buildings after school for outside sources such as Boy Scouts and the YMCA to use.

“We are in cash-cutting mode,” Tobin said. “Everything is in play for reductions and cuts. We have to start determining which programs to cut based on teacher contract status, program performance and evaluations and program outcomes.”

Some of the cuts proposed in the past included:

  • Determining which electives and AP courses can be eliminated in the high school.

  • Changing graduation requirements to state minimum of 20 credits.

  • Reducing foreign language offerings.

  • Reducing STEM elective.

  • Shortening the school day to accommodate less class periods in the high school.

A few of the changes to the five-year forecast include:

  • Fiscal year 2023 saw a 1.15% ($412,000) increase in revenue and a 3.46% (about $1.4 million) decrease in expenses.

  • Because of the increase in revenue and decrease in expenses, the 2024 general fund will have a projected balance of $8.2 million versus the projected $4.4 million.

  • State aid will go up in 2024 but will decrease for years 2025 and 2026. Nichols said the aid is based on enrollment (which is down), property valuation (which is going up) and federal adjustments which are up to 18% for the district.

  • Nichols said that a bond issue that residents have been paying for many years has cost the taxpayer $98 a year per $100,000 home is coming off in 2027. The bond issue is nonrenewable.

“We have no other renewable levies on the books,” Nichols said. “If the new levy passes in March, homeowners will be paying both the $346 (per 100,000 home) for the new levy and the 2.8 mills bond issue for the first two years of the five-year levy. But for the last three years, taxpayers will only pay the 9.9 levy amount.”

The board did open the meeting up to the public but none of the 50+ residents in attendance spoke to the board.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Lake Local school board hears financial status after levy fails