Harrisburg schools removed from financial 'watch' list

The Illinois State Board of Education no longer considers Harrisburg Unit District 3 to officially be in financial difficulty.

The state board has removed District 3 from Financial Difficulty Certification after six years, indicating the state believes Harrisburg has been moving and continues to move in the right direction, said Harrisburg Superintendent Michael Gauch.

Gauch said the financial threat hanging over District 3 is by no means gone. The district has only a small financial cushion, so a state cutback on local school funding or a major unexpected repair to one of the schools could mean catastrophe.

Besides, Gauch added, the district is still using 20-year-old textbooks that it can't afford to replace. It ended July with a $670,000 debit in the education fund and had to take out a line of credit against future taxes to pay the bills.

Still, Gauch is proud of how far Harrisburg has come.

"To get off the list is outstanding," he said.

District 3 submitted a three-year plan of action to the state board in 2015, outlining how it intends to make balanced budgets.

"They've looked at the plan, they think it's a solid plan," Gauch said.

Gauch came to Harrisburg in 2014-15, right after the District 3 board had made $600,000 in staff cuts.

"The teachers took a (salary) freeze that year," he recalled. "We were down to one-ply toilet paper."

Since then, he said, the district has chipped away at its financial problems, largely by not filling many of the jobs when they come open.

"What they (the state) have seen in the past two years is our progress. If we can stay the course, they assume we'll be OK," Gauch said.

Salary increases have also been funded by attrition, not property tax hikes, he added. He anticipates the new property tax levy passed in December will not be much larger than last year.

The Harrisburg school district also has had some recent growth in assessed valuation, primarily due to new construction.

Gauch is worried what the state might do after the November election. If Illinois drops its allotments to schools to 89-to-92 percent - it's happened before - that's a million-dollar loss.

Harrisburg District 3's revenues are roughly 60 percent state money; 30 percent local taxes and around 10 percent federal funds.