West Aurora School District 129 is looking at an estimated $1.9 million surplus in its proposed budget for fiscal year 2024-25, officials said.
The West Aurora school board will vote on the budget Sept. 16.
The tentative budget shows operating expenditures at $217 million, an increase of $10 million – or 5% – over the 2023-24 budget. The projected revenues are $218 million, an increase of $10 million – or 5% – over the previous year’s budget, according to district officials.
Expenditure assumptions for salaries are at $110 million, an increase of $2.5 million – or 2% – according to officials.
The district began the previous school year with $120 million in reserve funds, enough to operate the district for 222 days. The district years ago held only 90 days in reserves short-term, while the long-term goal was 180 days worth.
“Now that we reached that, it’s certainly our floor,” West Aurora School District 129 Finance Director Ryan Abrahamson said.
The district expects to end its 2023-24 fiscal year with $135 million in operating fund reserves, while the district is projected to end fiscal year 2024-25 with $137 million in reserve operating funds.
The administration plans to assess how to process where the district is financially, officials said.
Some districts have reserves that could provide operating funds to last two years, West Aurora School District 129 Assistant Superintendent of Operations Angie Smith told the school board.
“That’s probably not fiscally where we want to be,” she said. “What we have talked about in the past is that there may be a point in time where as much as we added to our savings account we may need to take out of our savings account.
“If for some reason the state were to cut back funding and we do not want to cut programs, we will actually begin to see that number come down,” she said of the reserves.
In answer to questions emailed to her from The Beacon-News, Smith said the district is in sound financial shape.
“It is always preferable to have a balanced or better budget. We have returned balanced budgets every year for the past 11years. We have been together as an executive leadership team and every year we have ultimately added to fund balances,” Smith said.
She noted changes coming due to the end of federal pandemic-era relief funds through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, or ESSER, Fund.
“Our ESSER funds will be completely spent with this budget. We are in the final payouts of construction projects that were part of ESSER,” she said. “In general, we reduced staff that was funded by ESSER, but we were able to work into ongoing budgets some new positions like restorative practice coaches and instructional coaches that build on programs or work that we undertook during ESSER.
“These are roles that support students and staff and that we believe are a great investment to help continue to move our instruction forward,” Smith said.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
