DeKalb School Board District 428 heard an update for the ongoing construction of new school buildings as well as two presentations about the upcoming fiscal year’s budget Monday night. Gary Gustafson, construction liaison for the district, said the drawings for the new DeKalb High School are scheduled to be issued on March 17 for bidding.

“Bids will be due on the 21st of April,” Gustafson said. “We should be in the ground around the 15th of May.” Gustafson said the construction costs will be significantly lower because of the state of the economy.

Jeff Zurlinden, from Nicholas and Associates Construction Company, said construction on Cortland Elementary School is also going smoothly.

“The main goal is the second floor area of the classrooms,” Zurlinden said. “The steel is scheduled to go up in about a week-and-a-half.”

Gustafson said construction on the new Cortland school is approximately 40 percent complete and is on schedule to open in August. The board then heard a presentation from Mike Frances, senior financial advisor for Prudent Man Advisors, Inc.

“This is just an annual update and reassessment of where you stand financially,” Frances told the board. The 11-year presentation of the school’s revenues and expenditures consisted of the past five years, the current fiscal year and a five-year projection.

Frances told the board, as of now, the school budget is looking at a deficit of about $1.5 million.

Liz Hennessy, principal of William Blair and Company, L.L.C., gave a presentation about building bond issuance and how the economy has affected the interest rates on the bonds the district holds.

Andrea Gorla, assistant superintendent of business and finance for the district, said the information PMA and William Blair and Company, provide are vital to how the board will allocate all the revenue for the fiscal year.