BY MIKE HELENTHAL
DANVILLE — The time for hinting is over and the time for action is nearing.
District 118’s School Board Monday began in-earnest discussion of next year’s staffing levels as it prepares for upcoming negotiations with the teachers union.
“Our timeline is, if we are looking at cuts, (the announcement) would come in March,” said Superintendent Mark Denman prior to making a presentation to the board at Monday’s closed-door session. “I think that’s coming.
“We’re going to talk to the board (Monday) and have some discussions about negotiations,” he said. “We’re just at the very beginning. You just don’t in April come up with a proposal.”
He added, board members would use the discussion to begin to “build their consensus” over the district’s course.
Denman has for months hinted at having to make reduction-in-force decisions for next year, but has held off saying cuts were imminent in hopes the state legislature would provide districts some indication of how deep possible state budget cuts would slice into school district funding.
The district depends on state funding for an estimated 51 percent of its total budget, much of that going to grant-funded positions called “categoricals.”
But the window for a state funding miracle is all but past as the local negotiation process calls for the two sides to exchange proposals in April.
“No one will tell us for sure,” Denman said of educators’ inability to get a read on state financing or the depth of possible cuts in the face of monumental debt. The fact it’s a statewide election season following the indictment of the last elected governor has made deciphering the state’s political future akin to reading tea leaves.
Even Danville’s representative to Springfield, state Rep. Bill Black, can’t provide detailed information of how or when the state will start digging itself out of its deficit hole — or if it’s even possible.
“I don’t have any good news for them at all,” said Black, who recently held a meeting with Denman and Danville Area Community College President Dr. Alice Jacobs, at the educators’ request.
“There isn’t a school in the state that isn’t already owed money,” he said. “The debts are in the billions of dollars and it’s at the point where it’s critical.”
“He is a very frank communicator,” said Denman following the Black meeting. “It was a very sobering meeting. We have to get through this and we have to find a solution that allows us to remain functioning. If someone could at least tell us how much we’re going to lose next year … .”
Black said he is “disgusted” at state leaders who should have addressed the crisis and called legislators back to session months ago. He said schools and social service agencies — already struggling with chronically late state-aid payments — could be crippled in the coming months if a budget solution isn’t found.
“We should be in Springfield,” he said last week. “I can’t call the General Assembly in session.”
The current District 118 teachers contract expires with the end of the fiscal year in July following a one-year deal last year that provided a modest pay-raise and created a new step for experienced teachers. That agreement followed a multi-year contract.
Danville Education Association President Robin Twidwell did not respond to a request for comment on this story.
