By Gary Scott on January 22, 2021 at 9:31am
The impact of COVID on Jacksonville school district 117 finances is being felt, but the board anticipated this.
Numbers presented last night indicate the school district has spent about 46-percent of the education fund more than halfway through the school year.
Jacksonville school superintendent Steve Ptacek says some of this was anticipated.
He says the school district is spending less than a percentage of what was in the budget. It includes COVID money. He says the school district will lose fund balance money.
Ptacek says the district has been saving for a rainy day out of necessity.
By Jeremy Coumbes on January 19, 2021 at 6:12pm
Both the Mayor and School District Superintendent are urging residents in the Jacksonville area to stay the course and not let COVID-19 numbers again rise.
Yesterday the Illinois Department of Public Health announced Region 3 metrics allowed the area to move out of Tier Resurgence mitigations altogether and back to Phase 4 of the original Restore Illinois plan.
The move allows for events such as indoor dining to resume with some restrictions, after being cut off completely since November.
Jacksonville Mayor Andy Ezard said today he is hopeful area businesses can start to get back on track now that COVID-19 restrictions have been relaxed.
Jacksonville schools shoring up funds against shortfall
Darren Iozia, Journal-Courier
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Financial reserves that Jacksonville School District 117 has set aside for renovations to Washington Elementary School now will be used to offset the state’s possible budget shortfall and other financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I don’t want to have to cut staff or programs,” Superintendent Steve Ptacek said of his reasons for delaying the renovation project and keeping the reserves. “We have about $7 (million) to $8 million right now,” he said.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced last week roughly $700 million in budget cuts, saying the state faces a $3.9 billion shortfall fueled by the pandemic.