At District 45, we are empowering all learners to cultivate hope, build confidence, and realize their full potential. Regardless of circumstances or backgrounds, every student in our district is given the opportunities and support they need to succeed.
Our recent work together to improve our students’ academic performance is beginning to show results. Over the past seven years, we have completely overhauled our curriculum, modernized learning environments, upgraded technology, and increased social emotional supports for all students. As a result, we’ve seen student reading scores more than double in the past four years, and among peer districts in DuPage County, our students are 1st in math and tied for 1st in science in the state proficiency assessment.
Many of these improvements would not have been possible without the community’s overwhelming approval of a $30 million bond referendum in 2020. In addition to helping improve academic performance, this referendum allowed us to establish full-day kindergarten, build a new Early Childhood Center, and enhance school safety and security. It also helped improve accessibility and address infrastructure challenges.
However, our academic gains are at risk. District 45 is funded at only 83% of adequacy, operating with nearly $8 million less per year than recommended. This is largely due to a lack of state and federal funding, with our district receiving only 26% of our funding from these sources compared to 36% in the average district in Illinois.
For years, our district was able to make do with what we had. But then COVID hit, requiring necessary but costly expenditures to improve health and safety during the pandemic crisis while also significantly increasing the cost of the approved referendum projects. Since the pandemic, the cost of education has increased exponentially, especially for districts like ours with students with additional needs—24% of our students have IEPs and require special education, highest among our peer districts in DuPage County. These factors led to fiscal deficits from 2020 to 2023, reducing our fund balance from a healthy 57% in 2015 to a concerning 18% now.
The current district leadership team, led by the new superintendent and a fiscally responsible board, has actively worked to improve the district’s finances by fighting for additional federal and state funding while reducing expenditures, trying to keep cuts as far away from classrooms as possible. We’ve made significant cuts at the administrative level, eliminating six central office positions and not filling a seventh. And we are practical in how we spend our resources, spending less per student than the state average and peer districts in DuPage County.
However, with deficits projected in future years, unless the district receives additional funding, difficult decisions will continue to be made to balance the budget moving forward. This includes additional teacher layoffs, larger class sizes, reduced programming, decreased staff and student support, delayed facility maintenance, and building closures and redistricting.
In District 45, we trust our community and value open, honest discussions. That’s why, throughout 2025 and 2026, we transparently communicated our financial situation to the public and collaborated on a community-driven plan for the future of our schools. More information about this plan will be provided soon.
If we can solve these challenges together, we will be able to provide our students the opportunities they deserve—opportunities afforded to students in other school districts. We can continue to increase our students’ academic performance, better support our amazing teachers, maintain and improve our facilities, and pursue even more financial efficiencies consistent with the community’s priorities. District 45 will become a destination district, raising home values for all our homeowners. We look forward to working with you throughout this process.
