On Sept. 24, the District 65 School Board approved the District’s budget for the 2018-2019 school year (FY’19), with operating expenses of almost $130 million. Kathy Zalewski, Business Manager, presented the budget to the Board.
Overall, operating revenues are budgeted at $134.2 million; operating expenses are budgeted at $129.9 million; and the District is budgeting a surplus of about $4.3 million. In accordance with the Referendum plan, the District plans to set aside the surplus in a Referendum Reserve to help balance projected operating deficits in FY’22 to FY’25. The commitment made during the months preceding the Referendum was to balance the District’s budgets for eight years, through FY’25.
The final budget made several relatively minor changes to the revenues and expenses contained in the tentative budget that was approved by the Board on Aug. 20. The RoundTable reported on the tentative budget, the use of the Referendum Reserve, the projected deficits, and related issues in several lengthy articles which are available online at evanstonroundtable.com.