East Aurora School District 131’s school board has approved a balanced budget for this school year.

The district’s projected expenses total just over $263 million, according to its budget numbers, with expected revenues at around $263.3 million. The fiscal year extends from July 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026.

There was no public comment at a public hearing held about the budget at the meeting on Sept. 15, where school board members heard a presentation by Associate Superintendent and Chief Financial Officer Michael Engel.

The district’s direct education-related expenses make up nearly $200 million, or just over 75%, of the budget’s total projected spending, per the district’s budget numbers. Things like operation and maintenance, debt service and transportation are some of the other major spending categories.

Salaries make up a little over half of the district’s total planned expenses, Engel said on Sept. 15, while employee benefits make up around 13% and purchased services make up about 19%.

Salaries have, on average, increased, as have the costs for benefits, Engel explained. Purchased services, transportation costs and utilities are also up, he said.

East Aurora’s total projected expenses and revenues totaling around $263 million for the year do not include a $28 million “on behalf” payment, which, according to Engel, are forecasted amounts made from the state to fund teacher pension obligations.

The district was previously estimating a roughly $2.8 million shortfall for this year, according to a budget presentation at the school board’s July 28 meeting. In total, officials are now estimating a surplus of a little over $240,000.

As for the district’s funding, money from the state is by far the district’s largest source of revenue, at about 68% of East Aurora’s total expected funding, per the district’s budget. Local sources make up about $58 million, and federal sources amount to about $25 million.

Engel said federal funding decreased by about $2 million this year.

Another change to the district’s revenue sources comes from a shift in its designation from the state for the Evidence-Based Funding grant program.

East Aurora has been considered a Tier 1 district for the Evidence-Based Funding grant program for all years on record since 2018 (funding remained flat in 2021, according to past reporting), per figures from the Illinois State Board of Education.

Evidence-based funding, or EBF, became law in 2017. Essentially, the Illinois State Board of Education combined multiple grant programs for school districts into one and now distributes it as “evidence-based funding,” according to the state board. The goal of the program is to provide equitable funding for districts in low-income communities and help them achieve adequate funding levels.

Around $162.4 million of the nearly $180 million East Aurora gets from the state is in the way of evidence-based funding.

That funding relies on a distribution formula with tiers ranging from 1-4. A Tier 1 designation, for example, is given to districts that are furthest from “adequate” funding. A lower designation indicates that a district needs and receives more state assistance, according to the state board. And as districts receive more funding, they are expected to get closer to “adequate” funding levels.

The gap between the funding East Aurora receives and what it would need to be considered adequately funded by the state has lessened over the years, according to figures from ISBE. But this year, reported at about 76% of its adequacy goal, the district’s state designation was adjusted to Tier 2, according to the state boad.

At the Sept. 15 meeting, school board member Annette Johnson asked how lower enrollments factored into those calculations. Engel acknowledged that enrollment has declined, but said staff numbers were slightly higher this year. Engel said enrollment is part of the evidence-based funding calculation, but districts can’t receive less funding from the state than the year prior, which Engel said is “advantageous” for the district at this point as enrollment declines.

The district’s total enrollment as of earlier this month was 11,755, according to the most recent figures from the district. That represents a decrease from the most recent enrollment numbers available from the Illinois State Board of Education, which put the district’s total enrollment at just over 12,000 for 2024. The district’s enrollment has been declining steadily in recent years, according to state board data.

Engel said the district’s move to Tier 2 was not about enrollment, but instead pointed to Chicago Public Schools getting the bulk of the state’s evidence-based funding and noted that District 131 was just over this year’s cutoff for a Tier 1 designation.

The budget was ultimately approved later at the Sept. 15 meeting, with all school board members voting for it except Annette Johnson, who said she thinks it was “not properly prepared” with regards to the district’s tier designation for evidence-based funding.

mmorrow@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/19/east-aurora-approves-2026-budget/