By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – The Regional Office of Education based in Bloomington plans to ease time and travel costs that come with an expansion of its geographic footprint.

Superintendent Mark Jontry said the addition of Logan County to the McLean, DeWitt and Livingston county office has prompted the office to provide more of its professional development online and in the schools they serve.

“We also do a lot of in-district professional development school improvement, ” Jontry said. “In that respect, we still try to take the opportunities to the district as much as possible.”

Regional offices, which were cut from 44 to 35 statewide starting July 1, provide things like substitute teacher certification, bus driver training and health-life-safety inspections for schools. The reorganizations were enacted by Illinois lawmakers last year as a cost-saving measure. The reorganizations are intended to save the state $1.5 million per year in salaries.

Jontry said this is an example of how a reorganization can be done well with enough planning.

“I think we’ve been able to demonstrate that it can be done if it’s done in a thoughtful, thorough manner and it’s done with enough time,” Jontry said.

Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti is chairing a task force that’s looking for ways to consolidate schools, government bodies and taxing districts to save the state money.

Logan County has seven school districts and 15 public school buildings. Regional offices also license substitute teachers, handle health-life-safety inspections, train bus drivers and run the alternative schools in Bloomington and Pontiac.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].