LW 210 Blames Financial Mess on 'Not Very Strong' Accounting Practices by Former Administration

Lincoln-Way District 210 might need “another set of eyes” from an experienced administrator to help extricate it from financial crisis, Superintendent Scott Tingley said during a public hearing Wednesday.

The hearing was used to present the district’s yet-unapproved budget for fiscal 2016, one that includes a Deficit Reduction Plan designed to reduce its deficit and restore savings. Tingley suggested the board consider consulting a retired superintendent or business manager with experience handling school districts in crisis.

Still mired in criticism for its decision to close Lincoln-Way North High School, board members fielded questions from a small crowd of parents about how administration allowed the district to slip into such financial disrepair.

How—parents demanded to know—had the board managed to file balanced budgets from 2011 to 2013 despite the fact the district carried deficits each year?

Assistant Superintendent of Business Ron Sawin pointed the finger at former Superintendent Lawrence Wyllie, whom Sawin claimed made the budgets on his own. Board member Christine Glatz, who sat on the board during those years, said she now believes the previous administration’s accounting skills were lacking.

“In going through this process now and as many of you know, I’ve been on the board a number of years, I’m learning that the former administration’s accounting practices were not very strong,” Glatz said. “We’re going to improve that. We’re going to work on that.”

The new budget projects estimated overall revenues of $101.4 million, $106.6 million in expenses and a $5.2 million deficit. The budget also includes a $4 million “inter-fund” transfer, which would shift money from the building fund into the education fund to help offset a deficit of $3.9 million. The district has set conservative projections of receiving $5.1 million in general state aid, and $1.7 million in mandated categorical funding such as special education.

The blame game persists and many questions remain as the district plans to close North, having run out of money to run the seven-year-old, state-of-the-art building. When classes begin in the 2016 academic year, the brain trust of LW 210 will move thousands of students to LW East, built in 1977, and LW Central, which opened in 1954.

School board member Arvid Johnson during the meeting to vote on closing the school blamed the state for the district’s demise, saying the district had expected the state to increase school funding over the years, and the state “did not meet its obligation.”

The board will vote on the budget at Thursday’s meeting, to be held at 7 p.m. at the Lincoln-Way Central Fine Arts Center. The agenda can be found online.

Read more:

• Lincoln-Way Serves Up ‘Verbal Manure’ as District Blames State for Financial Catastrophe
• What One School’s Cheerleaders Said to Another’s
• LW 210 Board President Speaks of ‘Venom’ and ‘Personal Attacks’