The school year is soon to enter its third month, and the fiscal year 2027 budget is now officially on the books for Indian Prairie School District 204.
With a planned, one-time deficit of $5.8 million to be covered by reserves, the budget includes $476 million in operating expenditures and keeps district reserves at 32% of operating costs — above a board policy requirement of 25%.
Administrators said highlights of this year’s planned spending include a “targeted investment in special education” to hire 15 more full-time-equivalent positions, and $118 million in bond-funded capital expenditures to support projects in the Safer, Stronger 204 plan.
Deficit has several causes — but not high administrative costs
Board members were well versed in the details of the budget from previous discussions in May and August and wanted the public to know one main point about the deficit: It isn’t caused by having too many administrators.
District 204’s staffing plan includes 95 administrators, said Matt Shipley, chief school business official, at Monday’s board meeting, making up about 3% of 3,195 full-time-equivalent hires. There are more secretaries — 102 — and nearly as many nursing and physical or occupational therapy staffers — 93 — as there are administrators.
The district, according to state data, has the third-lowest student-to-administrator ratio in Illinois, ranking 862nd out of 864 total districts.
“I always feel it’s important for us to remember that particular ratio that the majority of where our budget goes is not administration,” school board member Susan Demming said.
Instead of administrative costs, the budget deficit results from “a variety of factors,” Shipley said, including a reduction in Title I grant funding from the federal government, increases in costs for staff benefits and student transportation, and lags in state revenues compared with the costs they’re designed to fund.
Future budget outlook
The district has “initiatives and processes already in place to ensure the deficit is temporary,” Shipley said. These include a recent reduction to retired teacher substitute pay, energy efficiency upgrades across the district, and the planned return of freshmen students to Neuqua Valley High School from the Birkett Center, which alone is expected to save $2 million a year.
The district next plans to approve its 2026 property tax levy, in which taxpayers will contribute about 78% of the total revenue for this year’s budget. Levy approval is scheduled for the board’s Dec. 7 meeting, after an initial presentation outlining levy details on Nov. 9.
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