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Woodland questioning state formula to fund charter school

Some officials are questioning why declining enrollment at Gurnee-based Woodland Elementary District 50 results in more state money being shipped to a small charter school nearby.

Financially strapped Woodland made budget cuts and enacted certain fee increases in an effort to plug a roughly $3 million budget hole before the 2010-11 academic year. Those moves included the reduction of about 42 teaching positions.

In a recent financial update discussion among District 50 officials, Associate Superintendent Robert Leonard showed how Prairie Crossing Charter School in Grayslake likely will continue gaining more money at Woodland's expense.

“Their revenue goes up even when ours goes down,” Leonard said.

Prairie Crossing, with a reported enrollment of 317 students for 2010-11, is an environmentally focused public choice school in Grayslake within the boundaries of Woodland and Fremont Elementary District 79.

District officials said children from within Woodland's borders account for 80 percent of Prairie Crossing's enrollment.

Leonard said Prairie Crossing's state revenue is computed on District 50's audited tuition cost per student. That number grows as Woodland's enrollment declines.

A report shows District 50's average daily attendance is projected to decline from 6,234 to 6,198 for the next academic year. While that would mean less state money for District 50, the formula would boost Prairie Crossing's estimated per-pupil revenue from $9,764 to $9,821.

Woodland board President Lawrence Gregorash stressed officials don't have a beef with Prairie Crossing. He said the district is trying to illustrate how the state chose to fund the charter school.

“This board's issue is with the state and the way this is set up and the funding mechanism that they're using to create this inequity,” Gregorash said.

Prairie Crossing's per-student tuition payments from the state have gone from $9,207 in the 2008-09 academic year $9,764 in 2010-11, according to the Woodland report.