ORANGEVILLE (WREX) — Orangeville is a small school district, but they're facing a problem school districts of all sizes are looking according to superintendent Jeff Milburn.
"Some unfunded mandates of a $15 an hour minimum wage law, $40,000 minimum teacher salary law, so those two things really put a hurt on our budget," Milburn said.
When Illinois' minimum wage hits $15 an hour in 2027, Milburn says the district will be in the red $400,000 every year.
To reverse the impending financial shortfall, the district is looking for more property tax money, raising the current rate by a whole percentage point. That means a single family home worth $100,000 would pay an extra $334 a year in property taxes.
The money would bridge the gap for staffing, add more college prep courses in the school and do more work with Highland Community College.
Milburn acknowledges the added burden of those taxes, but says the school district adds a lot of value to houses and attracts people to the community.
"It holds the house values and it gives people the reason to come here and to move here," Milburn said.
If voters say 'no' Milburn says there will be difficult decisions for the school board to make.
"We can't continue doing what we're doing in the way we're doing it as a K-12 district for sure," Milburn said. "So some hard conversations would have to happen."
We asked Milburn if the district could go bankrupt without the funding. He didn't say definitely one way or another, but didn't rule it...
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