PEORIA, Ill. — It is the homestretch until the end of the school year, and the Peoria Public Schools Board of Education discussed the budget.
Mike McKenzie, Comptroller, said that this year’s budget has not been severely affected by COVID-19.
“There’s really not a whole lot of changes in this budget for COVID-19. The impact is fairly minor because we’re going to see most of the revenue. We have decreased our expectation for capital projects,” McKenzie said.
The number of meals the schools serve has dropped with students not in the classrooms.
“We’re serving 6,000 to 7,000 meals a day right now, but usually we’d be serving 21,000 to 22,000 meals a day,” McKenzie said.
Events that will not be happening such as capital improvements, travel that will not be done, and supplies were taken into account with the budget.
While this year’s budget has not been affected by the virus, next year will be a challenge.
“Because the revenue side is going to be a real challenge,” McKenzie said.
Mick Willis, Chief Financial Officer and Board Treasurer, said they want to hold tight on expenses as much as possible for the rest of this fiscal year.
“We know the economic impact of COVID-19 on several major revenue line items, they will be significant,” Willis said. “And, we’ll have rising fixed costs against that.”
The board will have a more clear picture on how the virus will impact next year’s budget in the summer.
A motion that suspends graduation requirements for 8th and 12th grade students was approved for the 2019-2020 school year in consideration of the impact of the pandemic.
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