Officials in Indian Prairie School District 204 are working to cut $2 million in spending from next year’s budget to help offset a challenge of rising costs.
The district is also dealing with continued reliance on property taxes to make up 77% of its revenues, a burden that officials say is falling more heavily on homeowners than on commercial property owners in recent years.
Chief School Budget Official Matt Shipley shared these details Monday as he presented a five-year financial forecast to school board members, saying the district is working to reduce expenses before bringing forward a tentative 2026-27 budget in May.
Forecast shows costs rising faster than revenues
Shipley said the district projects overall revenue increases of about 2.3% to 2.6% during the next five years, bringing the total money received from $457 million this year to roughly $512 million in 2031.
He called the district’s financial forecast a “combination of mixed news.” While there are some positive factors, including property tax revenue from the new Block 59 development in Naperville expected to be paid beginning in 2027, there are also some negatives, including a growing gap between inflation and state funding.
Costs including general transportation, transportation for special education students, and fees for licenses and software subscriptions, are anticipated to come in over budget this year, Shipley said. Overall, the district is projected to finish the year about $1 million short of covering an estimated $458 million in spending.
“In general, we’re more in line with budget than where we were at this time last year, but we do still have some challenges in the expense area that we’re working through,” Shipley said, referring to the 2024-25 budget, which closed with about a $1 million surplus. “This does equate to closer to a balanced budget, or even a slight deficit, from where we were trending last year.”
Property tax burden falling on homeowners
While District 204 anticipates new property tax dollars from recently opened businesses, trends in property valuation are placing more of the burden of funding schools onto homeowners, Shipley said.
This is in part because residential property values have risen sharply after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“But commercial property hasn’t seen that same level of growth, so … more total dollars are coming from our residents as opposed to commercial property,” Shipley said. “This does represent a challenge for our taxpayers.”
Revenues ‘a continued struggle’
School board members said it’s a challenge to make sure revenues will cover costs for both operating and capital expenses. That’s why administrators are looking to trim expenses, while “minimizing impact on school-based positions,” according to Shipley’s financial forecast presentation.
Superintendent Adrian Talley said Indian Prairie is a “destination district” for students with special needs, to the high cost of special education-related transportation likely will continue.
And since Indian Prairie’s needs and local revenues fall within a middle category among districts across the state, the evidence-based funding formula results in the district receiving 84% of what would be considered adequate financial support instead of the full amount.
“It’s a continued struggle, looking at our revenue that we’re getting and where we have to have that come from,” school board President Laurie Donahue said.
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