Evanston parents fear School Age Child Care program could be eliminated due to budget cuts

Parents and educators rally to protect popular after-school program as District 65 seeks to slash over $6 million

Parents and educators filled Monday night's school board meeting to demand that the district-run and operated School Age Child Care program not get lost to budget cuts. The Evanston Skokie School District 65 is looking for ways to cut spending.

They need to slash over $6 million, and there is uncertainty for the district-run childcare program.

The school district is trying to save money by cutting its spending. The School Age Child Care program, or SACC, run by the district has operated at a loss of more than $500,000 during the 2025 school year and over $350,000 this year, according to data presented by the administration.

I hope the board sees that a child is more than a line item, said Natalie Copper, union president of Evanston Association of Childcare Professionals

Copper is a coordinator at one of the schools that offers before and after-school child care.

We provide a valuable service to families in the community, she said. Families pay for our services. They know their children are coming to a safe environment with people who truly care for them.

The SACC program is offered at 10 elementary schools and two magnets. It employs over 40 people. The district says it's the only one in the area subsidizing a child care program.

The board is exploring bringing in a third-party company to run the program, but that's a red flag for one parent who supports the current structure of the SACC.

What's stopping that other program from hiking up costs, and then we have less controls over the fidelity of the program, which we do have when it's district-run, said Peter Bogira, parent

Next school year, the before and after school service will continue, but the childcare provided on half days when school is not in session, and flexible drop-in care has been eliminated. The long-term future of the district-run SACC program remains unknown.

Without a program like that, I'm not really sure how you get it done, Bogira said

No decisions were made on Monday night. A spokesperson for the district says before and after-school childcare will be cut from Washington Elementary next year due to low enrollment.

District 65 agrees to nearly $1 million in budget reductions

The Evanston/Skokie District 65 school board spent several hours debating cost-cutting measures on Monday night before unofficially agreeing to $969,376 in additional budget reductions, which would bring the district well beyond the $6.3 million in cuts needed for the fiscal year 2027 budget.

The board had previously tentatively agreed to $660,000 in cuts. But after the all-but-certain reinstatement of middle school librarians was announced Friday and more than $300,000 in technology savings presented Monday, the board started its discussion over again.

Board members ultimately maintained their decision from April 20 not to bus students across Gross Point Road and Chicago Avenue for hazard reasons, which netted about $160,000 in savings. They also decided to cut eight additional crossing guards for $100,000 in savings.

The board cut $312,500 in technology spending, including on student devices and some color printers. They also cut one Family and Community Engagement position at $96,876 and reduced capital spending from $2.7 million to $2.4 million.

The choice to pull $300,000 from capital expenditures could mean that the board will fall short of its self-imposed fiscal requirements. A January Kingsley Elementary School closure resolution states that the board needs a minimum of $2.7 million related to building maintenance to reach financial sustainability.

Failure to meet that requirement for capital investment by an October 2026 deadline could also trigger a clause in the resolution mandating the board to recognize that proposing to close Lincolnwood Elementary is needed. Lincolnwood and Kingsley were the primary two schools that the board considered closing after this school year, ultimately settling on closing just Kingsley after a long stalemate among members.

Technology savings and parking changes among key cuts

A key breakthrough in the board meeting its budget reduction goals on Monday night was $312,500 in new cuts to technology spending proposed by administrators.

Alongside cuts for next fiscal year, Assistant Superintendent Stacy Beardsley presented an additional $97,500 in reductions from this year's budget.

The savings in next fiscal year are primarily coming from the district spending $250,000 less on student devices next year, in part because the district will have retired older iPads and has decided to devote less money to replacing them. This change will also allow for more collaboration between teachers and community members to decide what technology use will look like in the district moving forward.

The cuts in both fiscal years 2026 and 2027 also include ending access to the FUSE program, a range of nearly 30 hands-on, computer-based challenges in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math.

Additionally, the board opted to remove some Hewlett-Packard color printers from school buildings, amounting to $50,000 in savings. That decision maintains the ability for teachers to print in color in every building. An additional cut of $34,000 would have limited color printers to select buildings.

The $312,500 in agreed-upon cuts do not include another possible $45,000 in revenue from the resale of student MacBooks used for the FUSE program.

Parking and crossing guard decisions impact budget

According to Beardsley, the district currently spends $54,000 annually to lease 30 parking spots in a lot across the street from Willard Elementary School at a price of $10 per spot per day.

Switching to street parking for Willard teachers would cost just $1,000 for the year. Teachers at Orrington Elementary and Dewey Elementary park on the street near their respective schools using this system. Superintendent Angel Turner pointed out inconveniences that come with street parking, like the possibility of being ticketed due to street cleaning.

The contract to use the Willard lot expires this year, and the board has asked to renegotiate with the lot owner. Depending on the results of that negotiation, the board may decide not to renew the contract.

The board also stuck to its April 20 decision not to recognize Chicago Avenue and Gross Point Road as hazards, which would require providing transportation to any students who cross those corridors on the way to and from school. The elimination of these two designations totaled $160,000 in savings on busing.

The board also upheld its previous agreement to save another $100,000 by cutting eight crossing guards. Board member Andrew Wymer pointed out that this cut, in combination with cuts the board asked for back in February, means that the district will no longer have enough crossing guards for two at each school in addition to busy intersections.

Administrative staffing cuts remain a contentious issue

At that meeting, district administrators proposed $5,933,275 in cuts, leaving board members with about $366,725 left to shave off the budget. But that $5.9 million figure included the elimination of all nine middle school counselors, a move that the board rejected by voting to cut just two of the counselors. Keeping seven counselors left the board with $635,077 in additional cuts to make for the next fiscal year.

District 65 Chief Financial Officer Tamara Mitchell has told the board that it needs to cut $6.3 million from the fiscal year 2027 budget. About $1.4 million of that $6.3 million target is a result of the Cook County property tax disbursement delay, Mitchell said at the April 13 board meeting.

Board member Maria Opdycke said the board has met its burden after trimming nearly $1 million from the budget for the next school year. The reductions include trimming $300,000 from capital improvements, $250,000 by cutting iPad purchases about in half, and getting by with fewer crossing guards, among other measures.

Several board members complained that the size of the administration has jumped over the past several years, while the number of students has dropped by 25% since 2018.

Our administrative-to-student ratio is out of whack compared to other districts, said Chris Van Nostrand

Opdycke proposed telling the administration to find $250,000 in central office staff savings for next year, but the motion died for lack of a second. Opdyke then asked the administration, as a show of good faith, to voluntarily slice the same amount, or perhaps even just $150,000.

But there was no commitment to do so. However, an administrative staffing audit is being conducted, so there should be a more solid ground for potential reductions once that analysis comes back in a few months.

Flexcare and Optional Care eliminated

After a number of public commenters spoke up Monday night against any elimination of the School Age Childcare program, the board said it was not making any changes except to cut Flexcare and Optional Care, which are part-time childcare options for emergencies and on teacher professional development days.

The board is exploring bringing in a third-party company to run the program, but that's a red flag for one parent who supports the current structure of the SACC.

What's stopping that other program from hiking up costs, and then we have less controls over the fidelity of the program, which we do have when it's district-run, said Peter Bogira, parent

No decisions were made on Monday night regarding the long-term future of the SACC program. A spokesperson for the district says before and after-school childcare will be cut from Washington Elementary next year due to low enrollment.