Treasurer warns district's investment income is lagging; levy adjustments shift more to education fund

Treasurer Sam Sol told the Round Lake Area Board of Education on May 19 that the district's investment earnings are trending at 68% of expectations compared with 81% at the same time last year, a gap that could leave roughly $225,000 below what was budgeted for FY26. "It looks like we're going to end the year about $225,000 below what we had budgeted," Sol said during a presentation of the March 31 quarterly financials.

Sol said that the board had already budgeted a $350,000 reduction in interest income and described several timing and classification issues affecting reported revenues and expenditures. She noted grant revenue is tied to expenditures and therefore timing differences in claiming grants can make a month'by'month comparison misleading: "This is just a timing difference," she said of some categorical and special-education grants.

On operating costs, Sol said salaries and benefits remain largely on target but insurance benefits are trending higher (about 69% versus 63% last year), partly because several staff were hired after the first payroll and an early payroll under a new platform did not withhold insurance for some transportation employees. She also explained that $1.4 million in bus-lease payments historically recorded under purchased services were reclassified to "other objects" after audit guidance, which helps explain a lower purchased-services percentage and higher amounts elsewhere in the report.

Sol described a significant change in levy structure: "This year's levy will have $23,500,000 going into that education fund levy," she said, contrasting it with about $14 million in the prior year. The reallocation was presented as a short-term approach to replenish the education fund rather than a recurring solution.

Superintendent Dr. Mendoza said the administration will provide a fuller year-end closeout in June and indicated the district has worked to reduce the projected deficit for the school year. "We did anticipate this school year would be operating in a deficit," Mendoza said, adding that current work suggests the year will close in a better position than earlier feared.

What happens next: the administration will return with a comprehensive year-end financial update and performance targets at the June meetings, per Mendoza.

Ending: The board accepted the treasurer's report and moved on to the finance committee's recommendations; no formal action on the FY26 budget itself was taken at this meeting.