The Peoria Public Schools Board of Education adopted the budget proposal for the 2023-24 school year during Monday night's meeting.
Following state law, the board held a public budget hearing to allow people to speak on the $317 million proposal. Only one person spoke, asking for more transparency surrounding grant funding and programs at the schools.
Peoria Public Schools will be operating in a deficit of more than $9 million. Chief Financial Officer Mick Willis told WCBU this deficit was planned, and was a result of the district spending remaining COVID-19 aid.
He said the district saved some of the money from previous years, and that using it shows a deficit.
The board adopted the budget proposal without a discussion.
During public comment, some art teachers from the district asked for more funding for the arts.
Susan Pfeiffer, who teaches at Lincoln K-8, said her school was given a supply budget of $777 for the year. She said the budget was split between the elementary school and junior high.
She said the budget boiled down to around 30 cents per student.
“Mind you almost everything in the art room is considered consumable: pencils, erasers, scissors, construction paper cardstock glue, dry erase markers, paint brushes, crayons, drawing paper, watercolors, oil pastels, plain glaze, just to name the basics,” she said. “So 30 cents per student for the entire year does not even come close to covering those basics.”
Stephanie Griffin, the band director at Elise Ford Allen Academy, said students don’t have a choice of art classes. She said this means students end up in band who do not want to be there.
“You can't force children to be band students, it only leads to broken instruments and burnt out teachers,” she said. “To grow a high school program, you need passionate middle school teachers to foster love of music into their students. Burnt out teachers do nothing but survive day to day.”
She said the rotation schedule also means students don’t spend enough time in class to learn the necessary skills, leading to more students dropping the class.
Superintendent Sharon Kherat asked arts teachers to meet with their principals to express their needs for the school year. Board President Mike Murphy also asked teachers to reach out to their board members to further discuss the issue.
