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District 65 parent groups say $27.35 million in budget errors have eroded trust
The cuts and the corrections are both big numbers
- $27.35 million
- in corrections to the district's financial projections
- $20 million
- in proposed budget cuts
- $2.3 million
- in projected savings from closing Dewey and Lincolnwood
Sources: Evanston Now, Evanston RoundTable
If you have a kid at Dewey or Lincolnwood, here's where things stand. Two parent groups, Thrive 65 and a group of Dewey parents who are also lawyers, issued documents Sunday ahead of Monday's school board meeting. Both say the $27.35 million in mistakes and corrections in the district's budget has eroded trust. The board has pushed action on the proposed cuts, which include closing both schools at the end of this academic year, to Nov. 16 at the earliest.
Thrive 65 wants the board to move forward, and leader Lindsey White says the errors make the financial position look worse, not better. The Dewey group had threatened to sue if the board voted Monday. It will hold off for now, but says it intends to sue if the board votes to close the schools. Both groups want an independent review of the projections.
- Board action: Nov. 16 at the earliest
- Closure savings: $2.3 million, down from $2.9 million
- Error: first disclosed at $17 million, now $27.35 million
- Also walked back: the plan to cut School Age Child Care
The error has grown since the plan was unveiled
- Oct. 13Administrators unveil a plan to cut millions by fiscal year 2028.
- Oct. 26Administrators admit a $17 million error at a board meeting.
- Nov. 3Slides shown to parents put the error at $27.35 million.
- Nov. 16The board could act on the plan no sooner than this day.
Sources: Evanston Now, Evanston RoundTable
The RoundTable reported that the slides also show Foster Elementary School's lease certificate payments were left out of the projections. District communications director Melissa Messinger wrote that the district takes the error "seriously."
