As preliminary planning for the next fiscal year gets underway, Minooka Community High School District 111 officials are looking to the state capitol for guidance and clarity on various pieces of the financial puzzle.

MCHS Superintendent Robert Schiffbauer has weighed in on Gov. JB Pritzker’s recent budget address, which, at times, delved into school funding.

“The good part in there is that the evidence-based funding will get its $300 million of additional funding to help hopefully get schools up to equal funding levels,” Schiffbauer said amid his routine administrator’s report to the board of education at a meeting Feb. 18.

Evidence-based funding, borne out of a public act in 2017, provides more finances toward schools serving under-resourced students.

While the baseline evidence-based funding provisions could bode well for Minooka 111, Schiffbauer said he has reservations about required ancillary services, and their impact on the bottom line for the 2026-27 school year budget and beyond.

“The one thing we continue to worry about, which wasn’t really discussed (in Pritzker’s budget address), was our mandated categoricals,” Schiffbauer added. “The big ones for MCHS are special education and transportation.”

Speaking specifically to state reimbursement for the categoricals, Schiffbauer said, “You start to hear the word ‘proration’ coming. There’s only so much money, and it can only go so far.”

Bottom-line, Schiffbauer said he and other staffers on his administrative team are keeping a close eye on the budget. The lack of any new spending programs, he said, could ultimately result in a status quo funding picture, from the state level, once all the pieces of the puzzle are assembled.

“Hopefully we are able to hold things at least close, where maybe we take a little bit of a hit,” Schiffbauer said. “At the end of the day, it’s something that we are watching closely.”

Since the introduction of evidence-based funding District 111 traditionally has received a relatively small fraction of its revenue from the state. Schiffbauer in his recent comments figured the amount at about 13% of MCHS’ overall budget.

But the end number, Schiffbauer added, is enough that it warrants close scrutiny as district budgets are assembled.

“It’s still a pretty substantial chunk of change,” he said. “It’s hundreds of thousands of dollars — millions — that we could lose through those categoricals. We’ll keep the board up-to-date on what’s going on there.”

In other business Feb. 18, the Minooka 111 board of education:

-Approved the high school’s 2026-27 school year calendar. Classes will begin Wednesday, Aug. 19, and are scheduled to wrap shortly before Memorial Day weekend.

Winter break is set to begin Monday, Dec. 21, and run though Monday, Jan. 4, 2027. Spring break is slated to begin Friday, March 26, and continue through the following Friday, April 2, 2027.

-Discussed the availability of parking spaces on both campuses, which have been in shorter supply this year amid construction work. Schiffbauer said he estimates MCHS will have a total of 930 spots in the fall, up from the 785 spots available this year.

“We should be able to accommodate everyone, going further,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t accommodate everyone this year. We kind of knew that was going to happen.”