Hawk Updates - September 2026

Each year in September, our Board of Education approves our annual budget for the District. Our budget provides a guide to how we will allocate and spend our money through the end of June. Our budget is broken into nine "funds" based on how the money is used. For example, all of our expenses and monies received for transporting students is budgeted in our Transportation Fund. Since the 2018-2019 school year, we have observed a budget surplus in our operating funds, meaning we have received more money than we have spent. Our operating budget primarily includes three funds: (1) Education Fund; (2) Operations & Maintenance Fund; and (3) Transportation Fund.

As a school district, we receive funds from three primary sources: (1) local revenue through property and sales taxes and local fees; (2) state revenue through Evidence-Based Funding (also known as General State Aid), mandated payments for special education and transportation, and grants; and, (3) federal revenue through grants and mandated payments for food service and special education. For last school year, 42.34% percent of our revenue was received through local sources, 47.52% through state sources, and 10.14% through federal sources. Local sources make up 64% of funding for school districts in Illinois on average, which shows we are much-more reliant on state and federal funding than other school districts in Illinois.

As many of you are aware, we experienced a financial crisis just over ten years ago, in which we cut nearly 25% of our staff. Since then, we have budgeted conservatively, while also ensuring progress within our schools and programs. Through this, we have developed healthy fund balances in all of our funds, especially our primary operating funds. Additionally, operating expenses per pupil were the third highest in Sangamon and Menard counties in the 2024-2025 school year, and have increased by nearly 43% since the 2019-2020 school year. Our Board of Education maintains a fundamental goal of maintaining at least 300 days of reserves on hand, which we have accomplished over the past seven years. We plan to reevaluate this goal this year to ensure we are spending our reserves appropriately, while also being fiscally responsible.

For this school year, we are expecting a budget deficit in our operating funds, due to less revenue received for grants and higher expenses in several areas. At the beginning of this year, we purchased six buses as we are working towards replacing our entire fleet within the next three years. Our budget deficit is primarily due to this large purchase. Each month, we report all revenue and expenditures, payroll expenses, credit card payments, and activity account activity to our Board of Education, all of which is publicly accessible on our school website.

Our annual budget hearing is scheduled for Monday, September 21 at 6:00 pm in the Riverton High School Library. The tentative budget for Fiscal Year 2027 is publicly accessible on our school website, and can be found in the September Board Packet.

New for this school year is the official Riverton app! The app is now available to download on iOS™, Android™, and Windows™ devices. The school app gives parents, students, faculty, and staff the ability to stay connected and informed about what is happening at Riverton CUSD 14, and will be used to distribute unified messages from the app for both emergency text alerts and day-to-day school communication. We expect the app will replace, or integrate, all other communication apps currently utilized by our schools and programs, providing consistency throughout the District, and improving communication within our school community.

Our app was recently used to communicate the power outage at Riverton High School. It is the quickest method of receiving information from all of our schools and programs!

The app connects with our new website to provide and easier way to obtain information about our schools and programs. Some features include:

• School and Activities Calendars - integrated calendars with daily updates providing all with information on events;
• Conversations - two-way communication between groups or individuals;
• Tip Line - the ability for anyone with the app to provide information to our school administration increasing staff and student safety;
• School Supplies List, Food Menus, Staff Directory, and Bus Routes - a direct link to our website to access each of these items; and,
• Push Notifications - notifications for news and updates about our schools and programs.

We are still in the early stages of implementation and development of the app, so please bear with us as we get more experienced with it. We expect new features will be introduced and improvements will be made throughout the school year.

If you want access to the app, and do not have the original email that was sent via Edlio in August, contact Brad Polanin at bpolanin@rivertonschools.org for access. Community members without students within our schools can get access too! If you know of someone who would be interested, have them contact Dr. Polanin for more information.

Scan the QR Code, or click on the Edlio Apps links below to download the app!

In case you missed it, the Board Meeting Report from the August Board of Education is linked!