District 98 board meeting - June 27, 2007

[Ted]

  This is a summary of the North Berwyn Elementary School District 98 board meeting that occurred on June 27, 2007.  It also contains action items that were approved at the emergency board meeting that the District 98 held on June 20, 2007.  The meeting was scheduled to start at 7 PM and started promptly at 7 PM (BerwynPatsy would be happy!)


1. District 39 dissolution - The big topic of discussion at both the regular board meeting and the June 20 emergency board meeting was the dissolution of Education Township 39.  The emergency board meeting that was held on June 20 was for the express purpose to discuss the District 39 situation. 

   a. Deferred approving dissolution agreement - DIstrict 98 took the same stance as District 201 and decided to not approve the District 39 dissolution agreement until the books had been audited and the district had a better handle on the financial situation.  The Oak Park Districts (Elementary School District 97 and High School District 200) have approved the dissolution agreement. CIcero Elementary School District 99 has also approved the dissolution agreement.  The District 98 business manager stated that he did not expect the audit to be completed and the financial issues resolved until end of August realistically.

   b. Lawsuit against Oak Park - In the emergency school board meeting on June 20, District 98 voted to join in on the law suit with South Berwyn Elementary District 100, Morton HIgh School District 201 adn Cicero Elementary School District 99 against Oak Park Elementary School District 97 and Oak Park/River Forest High School District 200. The Oak Park school districts want to pull out of District 39 immediately and have $68 million dollars transferred from the District 39 bank accounts to the Oak Park districts bank accounts.  The Berwyn and Cicero districts have filed a law suit to prevent this because the amount of money that District 39 is not known and so no district should be able to pull out until the audits are completed.

    Oak Park is claiming in its law suit that it has the right to pull out because a law was passed in January that allows Oak Park districts to pull out of District 39. That law did not include the Berwyn or Cicero school districts.  A separate law was passed in April that allowed Cicero and Berwyn school districts to pull out and the dissolution referendum was passed in all districts in April as well.  SInce the Oak Park pullout law passed in January, Oak Park is claiming it precedes the referendum vote in April and the Berwyn/Cicero pullout law in April and that Oak Park districts can therefore pull out immediately.  According to District 98 administrators, this allows Oak Park districts to not have to pay any bills after January, 2007 and before the complete dissolution.

     According to the District 98 administrators, the Oak Park districts have put themselves in a bit of a pickle.  They have set up their own bank accounts and have directed that all revenues from property taxes and the state be put into their new accounts rather than the District 39 accounts.  However, the amount of money coming in will not cover the Oak Park district bills in the fall, so Oak Park is still going to have to pay some of its bills out of the District 39 funds.

   c. How to divide the money - On issue that the District 98 administrators brought up is that there is an issue on how to divide the District 39 funds.  State law indicates that the remaining funds should be split based on the portion of revenue that each district took in in the previous year.  However, the Oak Park districts and Morton High School District 201 have some revenue coming in outside of District 39 and it is not clear whether that revenue should be counted in pro-rating the split of the District 39 funds.  Because of the lawsuit against Oak Park, no procedure document on how to split the funds has been created.  Accroding to the District 98 administrators, it had been expected that such a document would have been created by end of June.


2. Approval of strategic plans - A presentation to the board of the Disrict 98 Technology Programs and Services plan adn the District 98 School Improvement Plans.  The Distirct 98 administrators believe that layout of the plan will enhance the district's ability to follow state and federal requirements and whether the district is meeting those requirements. The board approved all plans.


3. School breakfast and lunch programs - Superintendant Belmont presented a report on the school breakfast and lunch programs. This year, there were 54 fewer children participating in the breakfast program, down to 470 students. Every building had fewer students participating in the breakfast program except for Havlicek School. The district ended up with a net fund of $168,000 in the school breakfast and lunch programs at the end of the year.  According to the superintendant, schools are not allowed legally to make a profit on the breakfast and lunch programs. Last year, the district served 80,000 breakfasts and 414,000 lunches.  The district will continue to use the services of Morton District 201 for their breakfast and lunch program.


4. Finances - The district saw a decrease in the fund balance in May of $629,000.  The operational fund balance at the end of the year was $17 million.  The fund balance can be expected to decline through the summer beause new revenue will not start coming into the district until the fall (property taxes and state and federal aid). The board approved paying accounts payable for June of $1,074, 298.10 and June payroll of $1,147,131.96.  The board also pre-approved payment of July bills.


5. North Berwyn Education Foundation Golf Outing - The North Berwyn Education Foundatin Golf Outing will occur on July 16. There are still spots available for people who want to participate in the golf outing.


6. Personnel business and other stuff - Accepted the resigation of several employees and hired some new employees. Also, approved adoption of prevailing wage rates and approved the Title I plan.

[Berwyn Patsy]

Yes I would have been happy, Ted.  I have only attended 1 or 2 of District 98 meeting, and found them to be professional and run the way school board meetings should.  I should also say the same goes for District 100.
If only more parents, or some of us taxpayers (parents or not)  could make an effort to attend once in awhile, they might learn something .  Thanks for going and reporting.   The law suit  involving Oak Park districts, will be interesting to say the least.  I wonder how long this lawsuit could take. $68 million is a lot of money wanting to be transferred!