Jacksonville School District 117 officials say a proposed budget showing approximately $6 million in deficit spending for the new fiscal year may ultimately finish much closer to balanced.

District Chief Financial Officer Richard Cunningham presented the Fiscal Year 2027 proposed budget to the Board of Education during a special meeting Wednesday evening.

The district is budgeting approximately $46.3 million in revenues and $52.3 million in expenditures across its operating funds, which would result in a deficit of just over $6 million. Under that scenario, the district would finish the fiscal year with approximately $31.8 million in operating fund balances.

The district has always used a  conservative approach to budgeting revenues while allowing additional room for unexpected expenditures. Unaudited figures from last year’s budget show that  last year’s deficit was roughly $2.9 million instead of the more than $7.1 million originally budgeted.

Assistant Superintendent Matthew Moore told WLDS News after Wednesday’s meeting that recent deficit spending has largely resulted from changes on the revenue side: “When you look at our revenues, a lot of the deficit we’re facing right now is due to revenue coming in, not expenditures. Our expenditures were in line this past year with the year before. So that’s our biggest concern right now is the changes in revenue with PPRT going down so much. Also the payback with the tax issue that we found at the district where we were overpaid in property tax [by the county] and now we have to pay that back. So that’s a big part of [the deficit]. We still feel like we’re being very fiscally responsible and keeping the taxpayers in mind when we do that. We are trying to limit our expenditures as best we can. We hope we’re weathering storm. I see a lot of school districts are in the same boat because of the fact that revenues are, the amount of reimbursement we’re getting is going down and so forth. We know it’s always a concern and that’s in the forefront of our mind when we’re making decisions to try and be fiscally responsible and we’re continuing to do that. We’re hoping that the ship will get right a little bit with our revenues and things will kind of catch up to where we believe they should be. We’ve been fairly consistent in trying to keep our expenditures limited as much as possible.”

Cunningham said the district at one point received approximately $6 million from Personal Property Replacement Tax (PPRT) revenue. The district received about $2.6 million during the last fiscal year and has budgeted $2.2 million for FY27.

Some good news from Springfield could significantly improve the district’s financial picture.

Cunningham told the board District 117 is expected to receive an additional $1.4 million in Evidence-Based Funding from the state during FY27. The district remains a Tier 1 school district under the state’s funding formula.

The Illinois State Board of Education announced last week that Evidence-Based Funding statewide has increased by $350 million for FY27, bringing the state’s annual EBF investment to approximately $9.3 billion. The state also changed its methodology for identifying low-income students, while declining replacement-tax revenues and rising education costs have increased the calculated funding needs of districts across Illinois.

Cunningham said the district had already received its first EBF payment under the new calculation and that it lined up with the state’s projection.

Moore says district officials welcome the additional money but aren’t counting on another increase of the same size next year: “We are cautiously optimistic. There is no guarantee that it’ll go up again next year, but at least for this year, we are pleasantly surprised that we are getting some additional funding, which will help and hopefully will limit and maybe allow us not to have a deficit at the end of this year. So, we are cautiously optimistic moving forward that we do have that extra funding this year.”

Cunningham told board members his current expectation is that District 117 could finish FY27 around break-even or with a deficit of approximately $1 million rather than the $6 million contained in the proposed budget.

The district’s proposed budget will be available for public inspection beginning today, August 13. A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for September 16 at 6 p.m. The final adopted budget must be filed with the Morgan and Greene County clerks and the Illinois State Board of Education by September 30.

More information is available about the arrest of a Jacksonville man over the weekend after a pair of private online groups targeting suspected sexual predators conducted a sting operation on the city’s east side.

58-year-old Michael Napientek was arrested by Jacksonville Police on Saturday at Casey’s on East Morton Avenue.

Napientek was cited for alleged grooming and traveling to meet a minor.

The operation was conducted by members of People v. Preds and Online Predator Intervention, or OPI.

People v. Preds is an online group that has conducted similar operations around the country for approximately four years.

Online Predator Intervention publicly identified Napientek following the operation and posted video of the encounter and subsequent arrest to social media.

It remains unclear whether Jacksonville Police had prior knowledge of Saturday’s operation or were contacted by members of the groups after Napientek arrived at the convenience store.

The arrest comes amid increased local attention and criticism surrounding sex offense cases, sentencing and the treatment of convicted sex offenders in the Jacksonville area.

Another form of citizen activism targeting sex offenders has also recently appeared in Jacksonville.

A masked individual identifying himself on social media as “Millstone the Klown” has been seen walking around Jacksonville carrying signs, including one reading, “Dead pedophiles don’t reoffend.”

The individual has also used social media to publicly identify local businesses alleged to employ convicted felony sex offenders.

The same group led police in Winchester to make an arrest yesterday. 75-year-old Gilbert Wellenreiter of Winchester was arrested by Winchester police and the Scott County sheriff’s department for grooming.

The group claims Wellenreiter was sexually online with someone believed to be a 13 year old boy. The person was actually a decoy working with the group.

Wellenreiter was given a notice to appear in court and released.

A Springfield man was killed in a motorcycle crash in Morgan County early Saturday morning.

Morgan County Coroner Marcy Patterson’s Office reports that 43-year-old Jeffrey Conn of Springfield was traveling westbound on Old State Road, just east of Wallbaum Road, at approximately 3 a.m. Saturday when his motorcycle left the roadway and crashed into a ditch.

Conn was killed in the crash.

The Morgan County Sheriff’s Department, Alexander Fire Department, and Morgan County Coroner’s Office responded to the scene.

The crash remains under investigation by the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department and Morgan County Coroner’s Office.

A Greenview man has been identified as the victim of a fatal single-vehicle crash Friday morning in rural Menard County.

According to the Menard County Sheriff’s Office, 911 dispatchers received a report of the crash shortly after 5 a.m. Friday near the intersection of Altig Bridge Avenue and Duncan Avenue.

A sheriff’s deputy arrived before fire and EMS personnel and found a single vehicle involved in the crash with one occupant. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

On Saturday, the sheriff’s office identified the victim as 27-year-old Chance C. Rutherford of Greenview.

An autopsy was conducted Friday, but the results are still pending.

The crash remains under investigation by the Menard County Sheriff’s Office and the Menard County Coroner’s Office. Authorities say no additional information is being released at this time.

The sheriff’s office was assisted at the scene by Menard County EMS, the Menard County Rescue Squad, the Greenview Fire Department, and Menard Electric Cooperative.

The Sangamon County Coroner has identified the 69-year-old Roodhouse woman who died in a two-vehicle crash near the intersection of South 7th Street and East Laurel on Thursday.

Donna Northcutt, 69, died from multiple blunt force injuries she sustained during the crash according to Sangamon County Coroner Jim Allmon. In a previous release from his office, Northcutt was transported to HSHS St John’s Hospital from the scene. She was pronounced dead at 2:51 p.m. Thursday, shortly after arrival to the emergency room.

The death remains under investigation by Allmon’s Office and the Springfield Police Department.

Illinois families who rely on child care and social services could soon face serious disruptions after the Trump administration announced a freeze on billions of dollars in federal funding on Tuesday.

Federal officials confirmed late Tuesday a pause on funding tied to three major programs: the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and the Social Services Block Grant. Together, those programs help pay for child care, family supports, and services for seniors, people with disabilities, and families facing poverty. Illinois was among five states facing $10 billion in cuts – the cuts to Illinois funding alone was estimated at $1 billion.

According to July 2025 statistics, Morgan County currently has 77 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families cases that serve approximately 192 people. Surrounding counties’ TANF numbers were not readily available online at the time of this report.

The Illinois Child Care Assistance Program—known as CCAP—currently helps around 100,000 working families, supporting care for more than 150,000 children statewide. The program allows parents to go to work, attend school, or complete job training while ensuring their children have affordable child care. Advocates warn that even a short-term freeze could force child care centers to delay payments, reduce hours, or close.

Beyond child care, the Social Services Block Grant supports more than 275 organizations across Illinois, funding programs that help prevent child abuse, assist seniors, support people with disabilities, and address food insecurity. Those services touch nearly every community in the state, including some programs administered locally through MCS Community Services in Jacksonville among others.

The Trump administration says the funding pause is tied to concerns about fraud and oversight, citing past cases in other states, including the most recent concerns coming from the State of Minnesota. Illinois officials say they have not been provided with specific evidence of wrongdoing and note that existing audit and anti-fraud systems are already in place.

State agencies say they are awaiting formal notice from federal officials and are assessing next steps. In the meantime, child care providers and social service organizations across Illinois are bracing for uncertainty.

For now, families are being told to stay enrolled in programs—but advocates warn the longer the freeze lasts, the harder it will be to protect the networks supported by the funding.