CUTS IMMINENT IN SHAWNEE SCHOOL BUDGET

WOLF LAKE, Ill. -- Cutbacks in programming and personnel could help turn around the financial decline Shawnee Community Unit School District 84 has been in since 1993.

Over the past three years the district has spent $169,000 more than it took in. This year overspending will total $100,000 to $150,000. The district has had to tap reserve money to cover overspending, and reserves are rapidly dwindling.

Superintendent Dewaine Prater said school board members will get a list of possible changes he believes will help ease the financial burden when the board meets Feb. 19. Prater said the district is considering a number of ways to bring the budget into balance.

Prater said he told teachers, administrators and board members of the deficit problems last summer. He asked teachers to present ideas on improving the situation in December, and presented the board with a combined list of teachers' suggestions and his own at the January board meeting. The superintendent asked board members to bring suggestions to the February board meeting, where he will present his final list of recommendations.

Cutbacks concerning personnel will have to be decided at the March board meeting to meet a state-mandated notification deadline of 60-days before the end of the school year.

"We hope to come out with a tentative list in the meeting to give to the teachers association and the public," he said. "We're trying to give people time to think and look at what we're doing."

There are 560 students in the Shawnee district, which consists of two elementary centers serving kindergarten through sixth grades and a combined junior-senior high school that serves seventh through 12th grades. Programming changes could include moving sixth-graders to the high-school building to reduce overcrowding at Shawnee Elementary North and increase the teacher-student ratio at the high school.

"The student-teacher ratio at the high school is 9 1/2-to-1," Prater said. "This is one reason we're looking at staff. We need to improve that; it's not efficient."

Prater said a number of factors has contributed to the financial dilemma. A new three-year contract provided teachers with much-needed salary increases last year, but it also raised personnel expenses. The district has seen declining enrollments over the past decade without a corresponding reduction in staff, and an increase in state funding over the years has not kept pace with the cost of salaries, equipment and other essentials.

"We're just being slowly strangled, so to speak," Prater said.

The state-sponsored Five and Five Early Retirement Incentive Plan has not helped Shawnee as much as it has other districts in the state. Two full-time and one part-time teacher took advantage of the program at Shawnee, which relieved the district of some costs; however, three administrators also took advantage of the plan, which reduced the expected benefits.

"The problem is that when teachers retire you can hire new teachers at a lower salary," Prater said. "But we had three administrators also retire, and new administrators are hired at similar salaries. There has been a savings there because of the two and a-half teachers, but not that much of a savings."

Another problem shared by school districts throughout Southern Illinois is a low economic base that generates marginal tax income for school districts. Prater said local property taxes were raised 13 percent in December to raise revenue, but a large portion of that income will be used for required health-life-safety work. Illinois law requires school districts to undergo an architectural review every 10 years to evaluate the safety and upkeep of buildings. Recommended changes must be made for building safety. They are financed through bonds and property taxes.

"Thirteen percent is considerably higher than normal for us," Prater said. "The board and community are trying to raise revenue, but there's a limit to what you can tax the people."

Prater said if the district were unable to cover the deficit it would have to borrow money, and the state could take over the district and require major cutbacks. The recommendations are minor now, he said, but if delayed could result in major cutbacks by 2000.

"We have enough in our reserves to cover the deficits this year, but we cannot continue like this another three years," said Prater. "We simply have underutilized programs and staff, and we need to make adjustments just as any business or family would do."