District 113A Awaits Direction from State on Financial Issues

Officials in  say they are still waiting for direction from the Illinois State Board of Education on multiple financial issues that arose last month—including a transportation audit and the possible creation of a working cash fund.

District 113A board members held a special meeting Tuesday night in which they heard a presentation on school finance from Interim Superintendent Robert Madonia. The presentation provided a general overview of everything from property taxes to budget planning.

The board also spent nearly two hours in closed session, but took no action. The meeting's agenda originally called for a discussion of a working cash bond sale, as well as a staffing plan for the next fiscal year.

Following the meeting, Board Member Lisa Wright said the district is waiting on feedback from state education officials before taking any action on the bond issue.

, PMA advisers Bob Lewis and Don Weber told board members they could reinstate the district's working cash fund by issuing a bond that would reallocate about $1.6 million from the bond and interest fund. The measure would have no effect on Lemont taxpayers.

Wright said the board is also waiting to hear the results of a state transportation audit that will determine whether District 113A received unallowable transportation reimbursements for the 2009-10 school year.

On Jan. 24, District 113A Business Manager Barbara Germany  she was concerned the district could owe as much as $295,000 to the state if they received certain reimbursements by error. The district  for a transportation audit adjustment for the 2008-09 school year.

Board members directed Germany to review the district's past two transportation claims after they learned of the audit adjustment Dec. 20. After going through the documents, she found that the claim for the 2009-10 school year was prepared exactly the same as the claim adjusted by the state auditors, creating cause for concern.

Germany contacted the state Jan. 25, and just two days later a representative from the ISBE External Assurance department requested specific documents to audit.

There has been no indication from state or district officials on when the results of the audit will be released.

Update on Superintendent Search

A closed session meeting was also held last week to continue the ongoing search for the district's next superintendent, Wright said.

The meeting was attended by only four board members: Vice President Dave Molitor, Secretary Cindy Kelly, Kevin Doherty and Wright. Board President Mike Aurelio was out of town, and Board Members Al Malley and Karen Siston were both unable to attend.

Wright said the meeting was called by Molitor "because the entire board agreed upon a timeline for the superintendent search process."

"The seven-member board agreed on a timeline. Tuesday night's meeting was respecting that timeline," Wright said in an email Sunday.

No action was taken regarding the superintendent search or other business matters. However, the four board members did approve a measure that gave Molitor the authority to contact Interim Superintendent Robert Madonia regarding discussion from the meeting, since Madonia was also out of town.

Wright said Molitor was only given such direction because Aurelio was absent and thus unable to communicate with Madonia himself.

Last month, Wright told Patch the board would likely name its new superintendent by March. Six candidates were interviewed Feb. 18 before the board narrowed the pool to two finalists, both of whom were interviewed the week of Feb. 20.

The next District 113A business meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, in the , 16100 W. 127th St.