During Monday’s Waterloo School Board meeting, Waterloo school superintendent Brian Charron said financial turmoil threatens to provoke Career Center of Southern Illinois near Red Bud to close its doors.

Charron addressed to the school board that lower enrollment and deficit spending are eating away at CCSI’s reserves.

CCSI Director Mark Stuart said about 21 Waterloo High School students are involved in either the center’s alternative or vocational programs.

Stuart confirmed that the center, formerly known as Beck Area Career Center, projected deficit spending of about $140,000 with its current fiscal year budget and that enrollment is decreasing for the adult Licensed Practical Nursing program and high school alternative program. Stuart said tuition from enrollment accounts for 85 percent of revenue with the remaining 15 percent coming from state grants.

He added that the center’s revenue stream has seen a downward trend over the last five years. For example, the center estimates it will receive $250,000 less in general state aid for the current financial year than in 2010.

“Even a change in that would cause a surplus budget of $100,000,” he said.
To balance the budget, Stuart said CCSI renegotiated contracts with vendors, cut back on the supply budgets and chose not to re-employ two of the five full-time nursing faculty. The center will look at every expense across the board before considering more cuts.

Other than cutting expenses, Stuart said the center is also reaching out to the school districts in Monroe, Randolph and St. Clair counties using services at the facility for financial help.

The center cannot levy for taxes to make up for lost revenue.

“While we’ve been trying to cut expenses, the substantial drop in revenue still hits you pretty hard,” Stuart said.

The area school districts entered into a charter agreement about 30 years ago in which they would fund their students’ transportation costs to and from the center. Stuart said school districts have not followed through on the charter for about 25 years, as the center’s adult LPN and nursing revenue has provided sufficient funds for transportation.

With lowered enrollment, the center is asking that these districts once again pay for transportation. Charron said he would like for his district to help the center, possibly in this way, but the board did not vote on this decision Monday night.

“I am advocating for it to be open next year,” Charron said.

The Columbia and Valmeyer school districts also utilize the center’s services, but the districts could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. Schools that opt to cover transportation expenses would receive reimbursements from the state.

Additionally, Stuart said schools can help if they enroll more students into CCSI programs, with tuition for the vocational program at $1,700 per student for the year. The center also made postcards advertising the adult LPN program.

Schools can distribute these postcards to give the program publicity, which brings in $14,900 in tuition per student. Stuart said tuition from the LPN program gives the center the most revenue of any of the programs.

“We’re just wanting to solve the problem of educating our kids who need the programs,” he said, adding the center is basically owned by the schools.

In other news from the Waterloo School Board meeting, board members approved a tentative 2016 tax levy. At its Nov. 21 meeting, the board will hold a truth-in-taxation hearing at 7 p.m. before officially approving the levy.

A truth-in-taxation hearing is required when a school district wishes to increase the tax rate more than five percent from the previous year. Charron proposed a rate increase of 10 percent, as the school district needs a 10 percent increase to balance its current academic year budget.

The actual rate increase will not come out as high as 10 percent, Charron said. Since the district will not be able to levy as much as needed to balance the budget, the district will need to look at making budget cuts.

The meeting also included voting on several district policy changes. Among those, the district will opt not to store Narcan — a prescription medicine that blocks the effects of opioids and reverses an overdose — at any of its schools.

“If we were to implement this policy, we would be liable if someone needs it and the school doesn’t have it or if no one is trained in its use,” Charron said, adding that storing Narcan is not a requirement for any Illinois school.

The school board voted in Marla Byrd as the district’s administrative assistant of financial operations effective Jan. 1. Byrd will take the place of district office manager Laverne Pflueger, whose retirement goes into effect in December.

The board also voted to accept district wellness coordinator Kelly Lerch’s letter of retirement. Her retirement goes into effect at the end of the current academic year and Charron said the district will find her replacement in the summer of 2017.