COVID-19 pandemic resulted in more reduced expenses than extra costs for McHenry County’s largest school districts

Some of the largest school districts serving McHenry County are encountering more financial savings than additional expenses so far during the COVID-19 pandemic, in part thanks to remote learning and federal financial aid, according to interviews with budget officials in five of the county’s biggest public education systems.

The savings from decreased usage of transportation staff and fuel, smaller utility bills and unplanned savings on other budget line items outweighed the extra costs tied to teaching students virtually in Algonquin-based Community Unit District 300, Woodstock School District 200 and Crystal Lake-based Community High School District 155.

“We’re still employing some bus drivers to make food, technology and classroom supply deliveries across the district, but obviously aren’t using buses nearly as much as we would during a normal school year,” District 200 spokesman Kevin Lyons said.

He added the district saw about $500,000 in transportation reductions for the school system and about $800,000 less spending on the operations and maintenance budget. The latter figure includes $240,000 in lower utility bills.

Technology purchases were a huge added expense for the school districts as they worked to provide devices to students who needed them to connect to virtual classes, officials said, but that additional cost of remote learning has been largely funded by federal coronavirus relief grants from the legislation known as the CARES Act.

“We were awarded a $670,000 CARES Act grant, which we’ve been spending on Chromebooks, WiFi devices for families who weren’t connected and other technical needs brought because of remote learning, but we haven’t received all of that funding yet,” Lyons said.

Districts are also awaiting on potential reimbursement of millions of dollars in other expenses, like their purchases of personal protective equipment to help keep students and staff safe when they are in school buildings.

District 300, for example, has applied for $300,000 in federal reimbursement on its personal protective equipment costs, but is unsure how much, if any, of that amount will be paid back to the school system, District 300 Chief Operating Officer Susan Harkin said.

Reduced revenues are also being experienced, too.

All of those three districts, as well as Huntley School District 158 and Crystal Lake Elementary School District 47, are dealing with drops in student registration fees, and the school systems purposely became less aggressive in trying to collect unpaid fees because of the economic hardships caused by the pandemic.

Other districts in McHenry County have waived fees altogether this year or substantially reduced them.

In Huntley District 158, for instance, registration fees for more than 1,300 students have so far gone unpaid for this school year, compared to just 648 last year, according to records obtained by the Northwest Herald through Freedom of Information Act requests.

In Crystal Lake Elementary District 47, just $340,000 in registration fees have been collected for this school year, down from $505,000 last year, Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Cathy Nelson said.

“I feel that we’re justified in collecting that expenditure,” Harkin said of registration fees, while noting the district is not sending collection notices to families who haven’t paid them yet as frequently as it normally would. “I think it’s important to balance with our taxpayers who don’t have kids in our school system. They aren’t going to get to break on their tax bill.”

Plus, Huntley District 158 Chief Financial Officer Mark Altmayer has planned on approximately $1.5 million in decreased revenues, and another $450,000 in increased expenses in his fiscal year 2020-21 budget.

Part of the savings found by cutting back on transportation and staff may have to go right back into the transportation payroll because of how District 158 is rolling out its transition to hybrid learning.

Elementary schools will host all students every day, with one portion of students heading to school in the mornings for instruction and a second group going in the afternoon, Altmayer said.

“In the long run, we did furlough employees for three months. We may see some savings, but they will not be as great as we thought because we still have to understand how many more hours our drivers need to get that done. We don’t know that yet. We’re working on analyzing that now,” Altmayer said.

Additionally, Jeremy Davis, District 155′s assistant superintendent of finance and operations, said the slight margin of savings realized during remote learning will likely be needed to offset what he predicts will be a state budget cut to K-12 education in coming months.

While officials in public education in Illinois have previously used the potential of state funding decreases to raise more money in taxes and fees, Davis said that logic is more pertinent than ever because of the global economic implications of the viral outbreak.

“I do think there will be cuts from the state next year. I don’t know how they’re going to balance their budget without a state bailout from the feds,” Davis said. “Next year, savings will have to go toward balancing out the state budget cuts. With the vaccine rollout being slower than anticipated, I’m concerned about the future economy. I’m concerned about people being able to pay their real estate taxes.”