As in school districts across Illinois last month the school boards of Oak Park and River Forest High School District 200 and Oak Park Elementary School District 97 recently approved budgets for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
The biggest change from the tentative budget the D200 school board approved in August was that the final budget doesn’t include an $8.9 million federal grant that OPRF is slated to receive for the installation of geothermal heating and cooling system. That’s because Anthony Arbogast, OPRF’s top finance leader, is now projecting that the money from the grant won’t arrive until the 2027-28 fiscal year causing the final fund balance on June 30, 2027 to be about $8.2 million less than was projected in the tentative budget.
“It looks like it is far more likely to be quarter one of the upcoming fiscal year,” Arbogast told the school board at the Sept. 24 school board meeting before the unanimous vote to approve the budget. “It will require us to be prudent throughout the year.”
Arbogast said he remains confident that OPRF will ultimately receive the money which is part of a rebate program authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act which became law in 2022.
“I don’t believe we’ll have a problem getting the rebate,” Arbogast said chalking up the delay to bureaucratic issues.
The delay in getting the rebate will cause the district’s cash balance to decline by about $7 million this year to a little more than $25.3 million at the end of the fiscal year, which would leave the district’s cash reserves at 25.8% of the annual operating budget. The district’s policy aim is for cash reserves of between 25% and 50% with a goal of a reserve at 33% of the operating budget.
Josh Gertz, an OPRF school board member, said the 26% fund balance was “disquieting” but Arbogast said that receipt of the grant was mostly a timing issue and would not affect long term projections and would be balanced out by getting the grant money next year.
“You don’t see a big change in the five-year projections at all,” Arbogast said.
Total revenues for the current fiscal year are projected to be almost $113.5 million which is an 8% increase while total expenditures are projected to increase to a bit over $129.5 million, powered by expected and planned spending on the Project 2 construction project that is nearing completion and includes, among other things a new swimming pool and a new third floor gym. OPRF is projected to spend $28 million on capital expenditures, mostly Project 2 spending and $3 million on debt service, which is also Project 2 related. Construction costs are projected to account for 22% of all spending at OPRF this year.
OPRF is still projected to run an operating surplus with operating revenues of a little over $108 million and operating expenditures increasing by 5.8% to a little over $98.2 million.
“The main drivers behind the increase are special education tuition and transportation, employee health insurance, utilities, and contractual services associated with the implementation of a new student information system,” said a memo to the school board written by Arbogast and OPRF Director of Finance Brian Imhoff.
$15 million has been budgeted to be transferred from operating funds like the Education Fund to non-operating funds to cover construction costs and debt service. $4.7 million of the transfers will go towards Project 2.
The budget for salaries and benefits has been reduced by $326,000 from what was in the tentative budget after this year’s hiring was completed.
“Several budget placeholders for staff who retired or resigned last year were replaced by new hires at lower salaries or removed entirely due to FTE reallocations,” the memo to the school board states.
D97 will also have an operating surplus but overall deficit
Significant spending on buildings and rising costs for out of district special education placements play a prominent role in the D97 budget that was unanimously approved on Sept. 22. The 2026-27 fiscal year 2027 operating budget for D97 projects an overall surplus of $895,000 along with capital spending of $5 million which leaves the entire budget running an overall deficit of $4,105,000.
Expenditures are projected to increase by 4.8% while revenues, mostly from property taxes, are projected to increase by 5%.
D97’s cash reserves are projected to decline by about $4.1 million this year but will still be a healthy 37% of the operating budget. However, looking ahead D97 officials say they are looking at ways to keep a tighter lid on spending and would like to keep their reserves abundant.
D97’s financial consultant Robert Grossi noted that student enrollment in D97 has decreased by 660 students since 2018 but the number of people working for the district has increased. Grossi suggested that the district needs to be smart and targeted in its spending.
“Improving return on investment will allow you to keep balanced budgets,” Grossi said.
Some 63% of all D97 spending goes to salaries while an additional 14.3% goes to employee benefits. The total cost for salaries is expected to increase by 3.1% while the cost of employee health insurance is projected to increase by 10.3%.
The district is projecting an increase of 12.2% in purchased services. Tuition payments for out of district special education services is projected to increase by about 8%. Most tuition payments for special education go to out of district specialized schools, typically private therapeutic day schools. Tuition costs for specialized out of district schools are projected to increase from just over $4.8 million last year to just over $5.2 million this year. Those costs have been increasing rapidly in recent years. In fiscal year 2023 the district spent just under $3 million on out of district tuition. Public schools are required to give all students an appropriate education and are required to pay for special therapeutic schools if that is what a student needs.
Out of district special education placements have increased from 49 in 2024-25 school year to 58 last year. At the start of this year 54 D97 students were attending out of district specialized schools.
“That is a growing need for some of our students and we are not unique in that,” said D97 Supt. Terri Bresnahan.