Budget and Financial Information Posting Reminder

School officials may think that they are in the clear concerning financial steps once the school board adopts its budget for the 2024-25 school year. But wait, there’s more! School officials also must comply with State School Aid Act (SSAA) Section 18, which establishes the deadline for posting the school’s annual budget and required financial information.

Budget Posting and Expenditure Displays

Within 15 days after the school board adopts its annual operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year (or a subsequent revision to the budget), the school must post or provide a link to the budget on its or its ISD’s homepage. Importantly, ISDs have slightly different posting requirements, as described below.

Within the same 15-day window, the school also must post in two “visual displays” a summary of expenditures for the most recent fiscal year for which they are available.

The first display is a chart that breaks down personnel expenses into the following categories: (1) salaries and wages; (2) employee benefit costs (including, but not limited to, medical, dental, vision, life, disability, and long-term care benefits); (3) employee retirement benefit costs; and (4) all other personnel costs.

The second display is a chart that breaks down all expenses into the following categories: (1) instruction; (2) support services; (3) business and administration; and (4) operations and maintenance.

Schools must separately report the annual amount spent on association dues, the annual amount spent on lobbying or lobbying services, information related to school credit cards, and certain information related to any costs incurred for out-of-state travel. Schools subject to a deficit elimination or enhanced deficit elimination plan must post a copy of the plan. Finally, schools must report the compensation package for the superintendent and any other employee whose salary exceeds $100,000. This information must include the total salary and a description of each fringe benefit provided.

ISDs are subject to slightly different posting obligations under SSAA Section 18. Like a local school district, an ISD must post its annual operating budget and any subsequent revisions and a display breaking down its personnel expenses. Unlike a local school district, however, an ISD is not required to post the display breaking down the other categorical expenses or separately report the costs listed in the previous paragraph.

Other Required Documents

The SSAA also requires both school districts and ISDs to post links to the following documents on their websites:

• the current collective bargaining agreement for each bargaining unit;
• each health care benefits plan (including, but not limited to, medical, dental, vision, disability, long-term care, and any other type of health care benefits) offered to each bargaining unit or employee;
• the audit report for the most recent fiscal year;
• the required bids when establishing a medical benefit plan pursuant to the Public Employees Health Benefits Act;
• the policy governing the procurement of supplies, materials, and equipment;
• the policy on reimbursable expenses; and
• either the accounts payable check register for the most recent fiscal year or a statement of the total amount of expenses incurred by board members and school employees that were reimbursed during the most recent fiscal year.

Failing to post budgets and other related transparency information on the school website is an SSAA violation, which may result in a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment, a fine of up to $1,500, or both. The SSAA also provides for state aid deductions for noncompliance.

Other ISD Postings

By December 31 of each year, ISDs also must post the annual website report required by Revised School Code Section 620. The annual website report generally contains information about the ISD’s operations and school services, general budget information, employee compensation, certain contract reporting require­ments, and information about other expenditures, including travel, public relations, and lobbying expenses.