Inaugural District 34 Committee Finishes Its Task

After months of tireless work, the newly formed District 34 Budget Alignment Advisory Committee (BAAC) has wrapped up its work, and presented its findings to school board members and administrators at the latest regular board meeting.

"This group's goal wasn't to make cuts ... that's not what it is at all," District 34 Executive Director of Communications and Strategic Planning Brett Clark said. "It was about the prioritization of expenditure areas for the purpose of informing the school board and administration."

The BAAC was a collaborative group process that included:

• Eight community members
• 19 certified staff members
• Two support staff members
• Two Board of Education members
• Superintendent and Deputy Superintendent
• 10 administrators
• CEC Consultant

According to documentation provided during the meeting, the BAAC's charge was to "identify, sort and prioritize present and known potential costs relative to their degree of direct alignment to, or impact upon, the district's goals and the strategic plan."

The documentation added, "This charge means the BAAC will establish relative values for identified costs compared to other identified costs; it will not recommend budget cuts or cost reductions."

In other words, the group examined programs and expenses within the district and attempted to assess and identify the roles these things play, in addition to how to possibly improve upon them in the future. 

District 34 projects deficit, hopes process will help

This was the first year of existence for the BAAC, and comes in light of the announcment earlier this year that District 34 anticipates being in the red financially. D34 has projected for the current year.

The BAAC also gave a 100-plus page report to the Board, which was the culmination of seven meetings held by the group.

"This is the first stage of a five-stage process," Dr. Michael Nicholson said at the meeting. "The results are further down the road."

During the meetings, BAAC members worked closely with specialists, including those with expertise in each area that was examined, in an effort to help BAAC members fully undertstand how different areas within the district operate.

In January, the Citizen's Finance Advisory Committee (CFAC) is also scheduled to make its presentation to the board. It is currently looking into the distirict's potential future financial scenarios, including potential defecits down the road.

Later in January, the board plans on presenting several possible budget scenarios based upon the findings of both the BAAC and CFAC, including - hopefully - how they plan to balance the district's budget.

Following the presentation of the different possible scenarios and solutions to the budget problems, community members will have the chance to give their input about which plan of action they feel is best.

"The school board wanted the input of a large subsection of people in our community and in our district," Clark said. "The superintendent's cabinet will make its final recommendation in March. We want to hear from people about this."

Staff/budget cuts still a realistic possibility

While there are no guarantees one way or the other, many are concerned that there could ultimately be cuts or layoffs coming down the road for District 34 staff members - which Triblocal.com's Glenview section is reporting is a realistic possibility.

“We’re a people-based business,” Clark told Glenview's Triblocal. “When we’re talking about this, unfortunately, we’re probably talking about positions.”

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