July 01--Consolidated High School District 230 will again have a balanced budget despite earlier concerns about state funding, according to district officials.
The school board last week approved its budget for the 2015-16 fiscal year that starts Wednesday. Expenditures are budgeted to increase by 1.4 percent, about even with inflation, district officials said.
Assistant Superintendent for Business Services Steve Langert called it a "very modest budget.
"There was a lot of risk we would lose state funding this year," Langert said, referring to Senate Bill 1, which would've changed the formula for awarding state money to school districts, as well as to fears the state would cut the share of money that each district would get under that formula. "It looks like we escaped this (legislative) session."
While District 230 expects to receive about 10 percent less in general state aid this coming school year, that's due to declining enrollment, Langert said.
The District 230 Foundation also announced the recipients of nearly $25,000 in grants for 13 teacher-proposed projects. The program has given a total of $175,000 in grants over eight years, district spokeswoman Carla Erdey said.
Two of this year's grants focus on the outdoors. The coaches of the bass fishing team at all three high schools received a grant to fund their teams' conservation work at Lake Sedgewick in Orland Park, including building habitat for fish, monitoring fish populations and stocking the lake with fish. A second grant will fund a native bird habitat at Andrew High School's Outdoor Learning Center that's designed to encourage "citizen science."
Other projects receiving funding include a French language immersion night; Sandburg High School's Visiting Writers Series, including a writing workshop and contest; a Stagg High School program connecting students with published writers that will focus on poetry;, heart rate monitors for physical education students at Andrew and multiple projects focusing on students' social and emotional learning.
lzumbach@tribpub.com
