Freeport school board contemplates future building, finance needs
As the Freeport Area School District get’s ready to craft its 2025-26 operating budget, a May 14 high school renovation decision also looms over future financial decisions.
Freeport’s school board was given a presentation at its Wednesday, March 12, regular board meeting on preliminary data for budget projections. According to the presentation, combined local, state and federal revenues are projected at $39,186,450.
Projected expenses for 2025-26 are $39,590,532. This would ultimately put the school district $404,000 in the red for the school year.
The school district has had mixed success in recent years keeping the budget balanced. For a four-year period from 2018 to 2022, the district faced a budget deficit. Brad Walker, Freeport’s finance director, said each time the district operated at a deficit, it pulled from its fund balance, causing it to decrease from around $7.5 million to around $5.8 million.
The past two years have been better, with the district operating at a surplus. Walker said with what has been added the past few years, Freeport’s fund balance is almost where it was at six years ago.
“We’re playing catch-up for prior deficits,” Walker said.
Walker also acknowledged that around $349,700 expected to be received from the federal government is currently “an unknown factor at this time,” due to uncertainty around the Department of Education’s future.
The next several years remain uncertain, especially with a potential renovation. The board previously said at its Jan. 15 meeting tax increases may be likely. At the time, Walker told the board the $22 million plan would require the board to add $1.3 million over three years to its bottom-line revenue. For the $55 million plan, this number increased to $2.9 million.
Gary Risch, Jr., the board’s president, said he planned on having a “full-fledged discussion” at the board’s May meetings on proposed budget numbers in the lead up to June. The school board is required to approve a finalized budget by its June 11 board meeting, based on its Act 1 timeline.
Meanwhile, debate continues over if, and to what degree, the district should renovate its high school.
Risch made it clear the board will vote on a renovation plan at its May 14 meeting, bringing an end to several years of discussions and planning. Up to this point, there has been no consensus on whether or not to spend on a renovation.
At the March 12 meeting, several “student school board members” spoke on behalf of the student body saying they have received input from students on multiple topics, including the renovation plans.
Juniors Himani Harrell and Dawson Gaillot said there are smaller fixes that the school needs to make, such as maintenance and upkeep of facilities. For example, they said several of the bathrooms are missing doors and locks.
But there are bigger needs, such as air conditioning and an updated public address system. The air conditioning in particular is needed for students in classes later in the day, sweating through their assignments in the months near the summer, they said.
“It seems like it’s decided to keep the buildings as they are and to renovate the high school and I think the most important thing for the renovation is air conditioning,” Harrell said. “Last year, I had Honors Algebra 2 during ninth period. It would be right near summer, it would be so hot.”
Senior Aven Heavner had his own thoughts on how to effectively spend money, such as moving students around other existing buildings and investing in those. But the three students agreed on behalf of the student body: Investing in schools today is investing in their future and with greater resources come greater results
“Our students do incredible things here every day. They exceed in academics, athletics, the arts, the musicals, the community service. They are great kids. We’ve hardly had a student in the past three years not meet graduation requirements. Our students are innovators, problem solvers, future leaders,” Heavner said. “With updated classrooms and better technology, we could give them resources they need to reach even greater heights.”
