It was while reading from the treasurer’s report at Wednesday evening’s (Feb 11th) Danville District 118 School Board meeting that board member Christopher Easton mentioned that District 118 currently has 115 days of reserve funding in the bank. Easton pointed out that; one, District 118 had 160 days worth at the end of 2018; two, 694 school systems in Illinois have more days worth than Danville 118, while only 155 have the same or less than Danville’s district; and three, Easton believes Danville will slip down to between 60 and 99 days worth very soon.
Easton says the $18 million deficit in last year’s budget is still being felt.
AUDIO: I think that probably what we’ll have to do is have an amended budget. And there’s a lot of conversation that’s going to happen. There’s going to be a Finance Committee meeting in the coming weeks; so hopefully we’ll have more of a plan. We do have a new business administrator right now. I think they’re to give us a good plan.
District 118 School Board member Christopher Easton
District 118’s Superintendent John Hart also expressed faith in new business administrator Todd Pence, saying he’s collecting important information right now.
AUDIO: And he has met with most of the directors by now, going through budgets. So, we’re really looking very closely at the budget, and what programs we have going forward. As you can see, most of what we spent tonight was based on grant money. So, we’ll continue to do that.
Board president Darlene Halloran was also optimistic that the right path will be found.
AUDIO: I feel positive. I think we have good leadership; we have great leadership. And I think we will; times are going to be tough, but we can do it together.
One item pulled from Wednesday evening’s agenda was a vote on a new contract for Superintendent Hart. Both Hart and Halloran said after the meeting that everything is still being fine tuned, and it should be completed soon. The next District 118 Board meeting is Wednesday, February 25th.
