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Fieldcrest facing cutbacks due to looming deficit
Thursday, January 29, 2015 - Posted 8:55:43 PM
Fieldcrest Superitendent Dan Oakley said the Fieldcrest Board of Education will have to make some tough decisions in light of the large deficit facing the school district. Oakley said the district is facing a potential deficit of $750,000 at the end of 2015 and an additional deficit of $440,000 for 2016. Much of this deficit is the result of reduced State funding of education. The expansion of the wind farms east of Minonk and the loss of student population also resulted in lower funding from the State of Illinois. Oakley said none of the options to address the deficit are pleasant but need to be considered. Among the options to reduce expenditures are eliminating extracurriculars from Junior High, eliminating all extracurriculars, eliminating non-core subjects such as music, art, language, and agriculture. Additional cuts could include reduction of teachers, administrative staff, and custodians. Eliminating extracurriculars from Junior High would save only $62,000 while eliminating all extracurriculars would save $248,000. The Superintendent asked the Board to consider all the options available and have recommendations at the next board meeting in February since a final decision must be made by March. Board members asked that the public provide feedback on what cuts they prefer so the board can make a decision based on public sentiment. The board members emails are available at the Fieldcrest School website at http://www.fieldcrest.k12.il.us/board_education.cfm?subpage=547281 Another issue discussed by the board was whether to rebuild or repair some of the buildings in the district. Superintendent Oakley said the Wenona school and the Fieldcrest High School are in dire need of repair to the wiring, plumbing and heating sytems. The school's engineering consultant, The Farnsworth Group, did a study two years ago and determined it would cost(corrected 1-30) $33 million to upgrade all of the buildings in the district compared to $31 million to rebuild. Reporter Dave Uphoff asked if that figure was based on comparing comparable buildings or whether it represented substantial upgrades. Board member Scott Hillenburg said the board wants feedback from the public on the building issue. He said the board will have to go along with the public's wishes as a referendum would need to be passed in order to take any action on the buildings since either approach is going to cost a lot of money. In other business, Minonk City Administrator Gary Brennan made a presentation to the school board stating that the City of Minonk wishes to work with the school in order to keep the high school in Minonk. Brennan said the City is interested in the direction the board will be taking and wants the board to keep the lines of communication open between the school and the City. He said there are things the City can do to help. At the beginning of the meeting, Bob Prince of the Knights of Columbus in Minonk presented a check for $1,020.71 to the Fieldcrest School District which is the proceeds from selling Tootsie Rolls each year as a fund raiser. Prince said the K of C has donated $41,057 to the school since the inception of the fund raiser.
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