Director of Fiscal Services Publicly Reverses Decision of Huntley School Board?

Now that I get to watch streaming video of Huntley District 158’s board meetings, I no longer have to attend in person.

So you can imagine my surprise when I read the Northwest Herald today and learned the Director of Fiscal Services last night said the District was going to amend their budget to include the new teachers’ salaries.

Surprised because the board approved the final budget after the teachers contract was settled.

The board already had the correct total dollars in the budget for the new teachers contract.

In fact the board had said it wouldn’t go through the formal process of amending the budget.

Instead it would amend the line item budget as an internal document. This “internal” document would be made available to the public at Finance Committee meetings. It would be used to accurately track specific teacher salaries to make sure they are on track for what they are supposed to be, budget wise.

It was surprising Northwest Herald reporter Amber Krosel wrote a story on the Financial Advisory Committee meeting. The NW Herald didn’t even send a reporter to the board meeting when the strike notice was delivered. Maybe nothing else was happening Tuesday night.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the Herald got tipped off ahead of time there would be news reported at the meeting. Coincidentally, Mike Laird, husband of one of the Huntley teachers union leaders on the union negotiating team, was at the meeting.

Mrs. T. Ferrier was very specific about what was going to happen:

“an amendment will later be filed with the Illinois State Board of Education.”

I asked board member Larry Snow if he knew anything about this change of plans.

Snow said,

“I worked closely with Superintendent Burkey during the teacher contract negotiations and I believe if Dr. Burkey wanted to change the game plan differently than what was publicly agreed to he would have informed the entire board. It was news to me, and I am betting it was news to Dr. Burkey as well this morning.”

The Financial Advisory Committee (FAC) shouldn’t be confused with the Board’s Finance Committee. The FAC meets quarterly and had three new members for last night’s meeting. That is before one new member resigned before attending his first meeting. Another newly appointed member, Paul Troy, did not attend his first meeting. The committee meets once every three months. The third new member, Mrs. Lucinda Nelson, a retired Downstate school administrator, courteously asked several good questions.

In past years, the Financial Advisory Committee has been a stepping stone for candidates for the Huntley School District 158 Board of Education.


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