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District Office: Phone: 708-258-0991 |
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Dr. Michael Nicholson
Interim Business Manager
Business Manager's Message
On behalf of the Business Office, it is a pleasure to welcome you to the 2011-2012 school year. District 207-U has a legacy of educational excellence and has earned a reputation for producing high achieving students with one of the lowest tax rates in Will County. Although our students consistently perform well on state and national assessments, our district is also considered to be one of the top rated districts in Illinois due to our strong parental support, outstanding curriculum, and highly collaborative relationship with our teachers and community.
In the Business Office, we are responsible for overseeing the financial and business operations. Oversight includes financial planning, creating budgeting, advising the Board of Education and Superintendent on financial matters, purchasing, fiscal accounting, financial reporting, grants, insurance, accounts payable and working with municipalities and other local groups to ensure the district and community work in chorus to provide a positive learning experience for students.
One improvement our school district made last school year was the creation of the Community Finance Committee. The Community Finance Committee is an independent advisory group of volunteers from the community and staff. The role of the Community Finance Committee is to conduct analyses and provide advice on education finance issues; to help build community consensus around these issues; and to provide a forum for community input. I am excited to continue working with this committee and place a high value on their input.
As this school year begins, Peotone 207-U continues to struggle with the delay in payments from the State of Illinois. The State's financial crisis has delayed the timing on when school districts receive their payments. Currently, the State of Illinois owes the Peotone School District over $652K in revenue that was to be paid in the last fiscal year. The specific breakdown of revenue owed as of August 5, 2011 is listed below. District officials are closely watching the amount of late payments from the State of Illinois and will continue to keep you informed.
As you are aware, the proposed referendum was not successful on April 5, 2011. The Board of Education will be meeting to decide whether the district will either have to continue the annual issuance of working cash fund bonds or reduce our operating budget by $2.4M, which would be severely change the educational services and extra curricular opportunities provided to students today. We will keep the community informed as decisions are made. It is important to keep that the Peotone School District has the 3rd lowest in Will County. Therefore our community spends a smaller percentage of our property taxes on the education of our children than almost all of the other communities in our area.
If there are financial issues that you would like to discuss, I welcome you to call my office to discuss or set up an appointment to meet with me in person. I look forward to working with you and a successful 2011-2012 school year.
Sincerely,
Dr. Michael Nicholson
Interim Business Manager
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