"With its savings projected to disappear within five years and the upcoming 2010-2011 budget showing an $8 million deficit, the financial picture at Palatine Township Elementary District 15 is bleak."

"The school board in March will likely vote on a proposal to sell between $20 million and $24 million in bonds, a move that doesn't require a referendum. If passed, about half the proceeds would go toward capital projects and the remainder would be used to establish a working cash fund."

From the article:
"Districts without a decent reserve fund would, from a cash flow standpoint, potentially be unable to meet payrolls or accounts payable in the fall," Associate Superintendent for Business David Torres said, noting that District 211 policy requires its reserve fund total at least one-third of its operating expenditures." Districts without that reserve may be forced to do some short-term borrowing or inter-fund cash transfers."

That's exactly what Palatine Township Elementary District 15 had to do in November. The district issued $7.5 million in short-term debt known as tax anticipation warrants to pay bills in the event second installments came in later than expected.

From the Spotlight Notes dated February 13, 2008 regarding setting a policy for D15 reserves:
Chapman:  ". . . doesn’t think there needs to be a policy to reference that."