Jennifer Hamm, Assistant Superintendent of Finances for the Galesburg School District, said the district needs to get every bit of revenue possible as it faces uncertainty over state funding. Illinois lawmakers have yet to approve a spending plan for the fiscal year that begins in two weeks.
Hamm said the district will consider all options to keep the doors open.
“So that we can ensure that our seniors have the credits that they need to graduate, and that we’re servicing our special needs students to the best degree possible,” Hamm said.
During the school board's June meeting, Hamm led a discussion about one method of getting a little more revenue: hiring a collection agency to recoup delinquent fees.
Hamm said the district has around $217,000 in overdue fees from the past five years. She said more than 4,000 accounts have overdue balances, ranging from just a few dollars to hundreds of dollars.
Overdue fees for registration and for Chromebook repairs lead the way.
Under the administration's proposal, the district would send letters to the owners of delinquent accounts, notifying them that they have 45 days to pay the balance before a collection agency takes over.
She said the only other option besides using a collection agency would be using school staff. But the district's recent personnel cuts and other factors make that idea ineffective.
“We don’t really have the skill set to do collections. We don’t really have the knowledge of tracking down new addresses and things like that. We’re not typically in the collection business. So we want our staff members to focus on what their jobs are, and collections isn’t one of them,” Hamm said.
The proposal to hire a collection agency was only up for discussion at the meeting. Hamm said the budget committee will study the issue and seek answers to questions raised by board members.
One of those questions came from TiannaCervantez. She's concerned whether students whose families owe money will be barred from participating in extracurricular activities. She's worried that would disproportionately affect students from low income families.
