Unit 5 to freeze administrators pay amid budget deficit

Mark Daniel
Unit 5 superintendent Mark Daniel said the district is still waiting on $2.7 million from the state. (WJBC file photo)

By Eric Stock

NORMAL – Unit 5 administrators, including the superintendent, would see their pay frozen in the district’s proposed 2017-2018 budget.

The school board on Wednesday will consider a $164 million spending plan that has a $1.2 million deficit.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Daniel on WJBC.

“There are costs that continue to rise so we are looking still at a budget system that’s based on 2010 numbers,” Superintendent Mark Daniel said. “There has to be an increase somplace somewhere down the line.”

Daniel told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin the state’s financial problems could force the district to find more ways to find revenue.

“We are either going to have to find more ways to become independent locally, less dependant on our state and that might be a course of action we pursue,” Daniel said.

Daniel added the district is still waiting on a $2.7 million payment from the state.

Unit 5 teachers have already had their pay frozen based on their current labor agreement with the district. Hourly workers, including custodians and cafeteria workers, are getting modest pay increases based on earlier negotiations.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…