District 210 juggles ideas of fee increases, more layoffs

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Lawrence Wyllie

Updated: March 29, 2012 1:56AM

Further teacher layoffs. The elimination of electives. Increased student fees across the map.

Those were a few cost-saving ideas Lincoln-Way High Community High School District 210 Supt. Lawrence Wyllie outlined Saturday during the annual community workshop, held at Lincoln-Way West High School, 21701 Gougar Road, New Lenox.

Wyllie proposed the ideas as ways to reduce the district’s projected educational fund deficits that may total $7.8 million in five years. The board would need to act on ideas by mid-April. The district already has cut about $8 million this year by eliminating 38 teaching positions and 13 support staff positions.

A packed house of about 550 parents and students showed up to hear the ideas, as well as pepper Wyllie and the board with questions and comments.

Wyllie said one way to generate about $900,000 in annual revenue is to increase the registration fee from $219 to $269 and create a $100 participation fee for all clubs, athletics and extracurricular activities.

He also mentioned the possibility of cutting the number of graduation credits from 22 to 20 by eliminating an elective credit.

By making this change, the district would save nearly $12 million in staffing and other costs by the end of the 2015-16 school year, Wyllie said. He said eliminating electives would be the “worst-case scenario.”

While the district is losing money, it hardly is broke. Wyllie said the district has about $29 million in reserves. The district has spent between $6 million and $7 million from the fund in the past four years to plug budget holes.

Lincoln-Way North sophomore T.J. Gaertig, who sat in the front row of the auditorium, said he hoped the board wouldn’t make any budget cuts at all.

“All of the activities and electives they’re talking about are important to the student body,” Gaertig said. “I’m afraid of our choices ... being taken away.”

While Wyllie insisted such cost-cutting moves still were speculative, the board did agree to put a policy change involving electives on the Feb. 9 board meeting agenda.

Under the proposal, students could take four years of any elective, including foreign language. Students must take one fine arts elective, one industrial technology elective and two electives of their choice.

Julia Johnson, a district art teacher, argued that many college-bound students might bypass arts or other electives to load up on foreign language classes to meet admission requirements.

“The reason we require fine art is because we recognize how important that is to us as human beings,” Johnson said. “Art is crucially important for creativity, for problem solving.”

As Johnson was speaking, board member Christine Glatz whispered to board member Stephen White, “she’s protecting her job.”

After the meeting, Wyllie said enrollment numbers for the electives may determine if some teachers are let go.

The board also agreed to put an item on the next board agenda that would lower the fee of zero-hour from $500 to $350 and raise the cost of summer school from $330 to $350.