Monmouth-Roseville Superintendent Ed Fletcher reported to the Board of Education Tuesday night that the 2020-2021 budget will be a deficit one. The expected budget is currently at $17 million as a whole and Fletcher said he expects a deficit of $1.3 million however he says the District is not in a critical mode because the reserves total $13 million. Fletcher says the District has had to spend money on new technology such as Chromebooks and software platforms to assist teachers, students and parents with remote learning. Fletcher is also concerned about a potential decrease in evidenced based funding later this year and the fiscal shape the state of Illinois is currently facing with an unbalanced budget as well as borrowing money from the federal government.
“I think right now there is a concern without federal help for states and whether Illinois will have revenue to provide unemployment benefits and all the things they are trying to provide right now and still provide funding for schools. I am concerned about that. I looked at our collection rate for our local levy and I used 80% as a marker, it could be 75% or it could be 90%, I don’t know until we start receiving the revenue. Based upon those estimates and looking at our expenditures, we had an unbalanced budget, but we don’t have to do a deficit reduction plan. We have been frugal with our money. The money that we have received we have been able to build up our fund balances. For the time being it is not like a critical mode or anything for us,” Fletcher states.
Fletcher also stated the increases in the first year teacher salaries will affect the Monmouth-Roseville school district by $1 million over a 3-year period and the minimum wage increases for non-certified staff will result in an increase of $450,000 over a 4 year-period.
