The Examiner U-46 News Feed

U-46 budget timeline set for board ratification

By Seth Hancock
  The Board of Education in School District U-46 will be voting on its first resolution related to the Fiscal Year 2023 budget.
  A resolution to display and set a public hearing date will be voted on at its meeting on Monday, July 18. The resolution was presented on June 20.
  The FY 2022 budget continued the trend, for the seventh straight year, of increased spending and enrollment declines. That budget’s projections expects that trend to continue for the foreseeable future with no efforts to control spending expected.
  As for the upcoming resolution vote related to FY 2023, it sets Aug. 22 for presentation of a tentative budget which will be put on public display on Aug. 23. The resolution sets a public hearing for Sept. 12, and the board is expected to adopt the budget Sept. 26.
  “Notice must be given in a publication of general circulation at least 30 days prior to the public hearing on a school district’s budget,” Superintendent Tony Sanders said. “The resolution sets the date of the Public Hearing on the District’s budget as September 12, 2022. The notice will be published August 9, 2022. Administration will recommend adoption of this resolution at the July 18, 2022 Board meeting. This timeline fulfills all Illinois School Code requirements.”
  The FY 2022 budget increased spending by $61.3 million (up 10.2 percent to $660.8 million total) and revenue by $59.9 million (up 9.9 percent to $662.3 million total)
  Spending under the FY 2022 budget is 53.7 percent higher than 2012 while enrollment declined by 11.4 percent during that period. Last November, the district reported a drop of 533 students to a total enrollment of 36,090 in 2021-2022.