Kankakee Times

The Kankakee School Board passed a fiscal year 2021 budget for the district last week.

According to the Daily Journal, the budget for 2021 projects that there will be $76.1 million in revenue and $81.9 million in expenses. The budget also has a deficit of about $6 million, which Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Rob Grossi said would even out to approximately a $1 million surplus after capital projects and bond issues are factored in.

The budget will now go to the Illinois State Board of Education for approval. 

“We are a Tier 1 district, meaning that we are one of the districts that relies most on state funding in order to survive, and thus, that makes us more vulnerable for an eventual funding crisis in the state of Illinois,” Grossi said.

The county receives about 54% of its money from the state. Grossi said going forward, the district will have to be very careful with its spending so that it gets the most value for the money it does spend.

“There will be a cut on how much money [the state is] funding school districts,” Grossi said, the news media reported. “We don’t know when; we don’t know what it’s going to look like, but that’s something that we need to prepare for as we make our decisions.”

Currently, Illinois has a $2.7 million deficit for the 2020 fiscal year and is projected to have a deficit of $7.4 million for the following fiscal year. Grossi said even before COVID-19, the state was struggling financially. The state took out approximately $6 billion in federal loans in May. Grossi anticipated a delay in grant payments from the state and he was nervous about the timing of payments.