By Andy Dahn
BLOOMINGTON – District 87 Superintendent Barry Reilly was pleased with a 2015 audit report that was presented to board members Wednesday night.
The report commended the district for being nearly perfect in their reports for expected revenues and expenditures. Reilly said those impressive estimates wouldn’t be possible without his team of board members and the work they do to closely monitor the district’s budget.
“It’s helped by what we’ve been able to do in terms of having some shared sacrifices through purchases that we’ve made and in terms of employee salaries,” Reilly said. “All of us have contributed to the ability to have a budget that gets us close to balanced.”
While Reilly spoke highly of his fellow board members, he also acknowledged the need to continue to look at ways of saving money.
“We’re still challenged and we still have deficits going on within most of our funds,” said Reilly. “But our board has done a great job of narrowing those deficits to as small as they can be in the last several years.”
Something that Reilly was not exactly pleased with was the possibility of Illinois shifting over $8 million in pension costs to local districts. Reilly called that expense “something that would be very difficult to take on.”
BHS MTSS
Wednesdays meeting was held at Bloomington High School, where a school program that provides support to struggling students in a variety of ways such as individual help, differentiated instruction and reward incentives was presented by Bloomington High staff. The Multi-tier System of Supports has led to increases in student graduation rates and grades, as well as a decrease in truancy and class absences. Reilly said the work that Bloomington High teachers have put into the program hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“They made a lot of progress in a very short amount of time,” Reilly said. “I’m encouraged by the numbers. What remains to be seen is if we can sustain that and even build on it. If they’re able to do that, it’s phenomenal.”
Reilly added that work being done in the district’s elementary and middle schools helps prepare students for programs like the one being used at Bloomington High.
Andy Dahn can be reached at andy.dahn@cumulus.com.
