Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – A frustrated board president Micah Miller presided over Monday’s District 186 school board meeting, at which the board passed a deficit budget.

“What kind of bugs me about this process,” said Miller, “and having had four different budget directors in the past five years, and then having had $107 million worth of ESSER money that’s been sprinkled into the mix, and all those nuances, is it gets really hard to keep track – apples to apples – each year, and also to assign any accountability when you are trying to look back at different years and where we are in this year.”

The deficit is twice that of a year ago, when the district spent only 95 percent of its budget. A similar strategy planned now.