001And I'm calling to order the regular board of education meeting for Indian Prairie School District 204 on Monday, February 23rd, 2026. Michelle, will you please call the role? >> Miss Dming, >> present. >> Miss Donahghue, >> here. >> Miss Gint >> here. >> Miss Fostic >> here. >> Miss Grover. Mr. Rising. And Mr. Kurubus >> here. Mr. Kubus, will you lead us in the pledge? >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> The next regular board meeting will be held on Monday, March 9th. We have six board salutes tonight. We'll start with Miss Gent. All right. I have two. 2026 Career and Technical Education Instructor of the Year. The board
002salutes Wubanzi Valley High School television production teacher Brian Weinick for being awarded the 2026 Career and Technical Education Instructor of the Year. Brian was selected by District 204 in partnership with the DuPage Area Occupational Education System and the College of DuPage in recognition of his excellence, innovative teaching strategies, and steadfast commitment to advocating for career and technical education. Congratulations to Brian on receiving this award. Granger Middle School student wins DuPage County Regional Spelling Bee. The board salutes Shruuthy Ayagari, an eighth grader at Granger Middle School, for winning the Dwage County Regional Spelling Bee and advancing to the scripts National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC. This marks her second consecutive year winning the regional event. We also recognize Skullan Middle School 7th grader Sashin Jabshedi and Cone Middle School 7th grader Kiara Qatari for their impressive
003achievement and participation in this year's regional spelling bee. Congratulations to all Mr. Kurubus >> Wanzi Valley gymnast heading to state. The board salutes Wanzi Valley senior gymnast Lucia Caruso for advancing to the state competition in the floor exercise for the second consecutive season. Competing for the valley co-op at the Asiggo girls gymnastics sectional. Lucia earned a first place finish on the floor exercise, securing her return to state. We congratulate her and wish her continued success there. >> Miss Fazdik. District 204 staff member recognized at the state level. The board salutes Laura Gonzalez, Kalashaw Elementary K through five multilingual learners teacher on her nomination and election as board secretary of the Illinois State Board of Education. Elected by the Education Policy Planning Committee meeting of the whole, this leadership role is a great achievement and shows
004her dedication. Congratulations, >> Miss Grover. District 204 students represented at Illinois Career and Technical Education. The board salutes Wubanzi Valley Jr. Ikans Mahapatra and Nikua Valley seniors Dibbanchi Day and Asta Jindel for representing Indian Prairie School District 204 at the Illinois Career and Technical Education Career Connected Learning Gaining Momentum presentation. As Career and Technical Student Organization student board members, they spoke with confidence, clarity, and professionalism, proudly representing our district at the state level. Congratulations on this great achievement, Miss Dumming. >> Brooks Elementary fourth grader receives Aurora Black Girl Magic Award. The board salutes Brooks Elementary fourth grader Courtourtney Stoval for being awarded the inaugural City of Aurora Black Girl Magic Award. When she was just 7 years old, Courtney published her book Vacation Diary of a Sloth, showing her creativity, determination, and talent at a
005young age. Congratulations, Courtney. >> Let's have an applause for all of these great accomplishments. [applause] Okay, next we have our student representative report by Avery Powers from Matia Valley High School. >> Thank you. Good evening everyone. My name is Avery Powers and I will be the executive board representative from Matia Valley High School next year and I am here tonight filling in for Soha. First, we're going to start off with general updates. The chess team had a 5-2 record at state and speech team sent eight students to state this past weekend with the Mustangs finishing in 13th place out of 73 teams. BPA and DECA are sending students to state in the next two weeks as well. For Black History Month, Black Aces put on a great showcase students could watch during their lunch period.
006Later this month, Matia is doing a schoolwide polar plunge event. We have over 30 staff members raising money and taking a plunge to represent their clubs and sports. We also have several students participating as well. Moving on to athletics, girls bowling had two athletes qualify for sectionals and two athletes for girls wrestling and one athlete for boys wrestling also advanced to sectionals. Trey Watkins set the all-time basketball scoring record at Matia with around 1,250 points throughout his career. Boys swim sectionals took place on Saturday and multiple athletes are moving on. Dance and cheer team both finished out their seasons and the dance team had their winter showcase last Thursday. Spring sports started with softball triyouts today and all other spring sports starting within the next two weeks. Finally, we have fine arts. Matia student Matia
007music students had the opportunity to work with several guest clinicians. Orchestra students worked with Ray Oswald, a retired music educator. Choir students worked with Katherine Sherman of Depal University and Professor Professor Sarah Cat of Elmherst University. Band students worked with Jim Sters, a retired music educator and Birch Creek director and Lieutenant Colonel Brian Miller, commander of the Air National Guard Band of the Midwest. Matia also got the opportunity to host Solen Ensemble this past weekend. That's all for our report this evening. Thank you so much for your time and I look forward to updating you on all the great things at Matia in the future. And as always, go Mustangs. >> Thank you. Welcome Avery. [applause] >> Okay, next we have our school spotlight and tonight is Gail McKenzie High School presented by Latana Harris.
008Good evening everyone. Oh, the table. [laughter] How are you guys doing? >> Okay, so um what we did this semester, we called it a um gratitude journal and it was um an idea my psychologist and I thought about and we actually put it into motion this semester. So um just want to talk about it, talk about the highlights of the program and things like that. So it began as a simple idea um create structure space for reflection. It's become a level of connection, equity and post-secondary readiness. Today I will briefly share the framework, the strategy and the impact. And so I just called it the power to page SEO in action. There we go. So the framework, we did it consistently. We did it on Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:45. Everyone was involved in it and
009it was a building prompt that we used in Google Classroom. So everyone was in that Google classroom. Um it was access for all. We were able to get students um journals. You can't hear me? Oh, we were able to get um students journals and things with our SEAL grant funded um money and materials like that. Um students had the opportunity they could write or they could draw. So that kind of took you know away from people who would not want to write or express themselves in a different manner and so the journals remained in the building. The students didn't take the journals home because we did it in fourth period all the time. So the teachers kept the journals in the building and then staff participated as well. So the strategic alignment was voc vocational
010readiness um strengths interest postsecondary goals equity and inclusion identity and belonging development like grants um grat gratitude regulation self-awareness and then this was the gratitude tree and this gratitude tree was around Thanksgiving from the journal prompt. It was a journal prompt like what are you grateful for? So um they were given leaves instead of to write on and so then one of the students and staff put the leaves and trees up and so student engagement and the impact it increased engagement throughout um creative expression um stronger student staff connection because the staff were being transparent by you know journaling as well noticeable calm during journaling blocks. It was definitely a reset for everybody. And then impact and next steps. We didn't just teach them to write. Um we were able to teach them to reflect,
011regulate, and plan for who they want to become. And then the goal is just to expand vocational milestone prompts and align with graduation transition planning. >> Thank you so much for sharing this. It's a very great skill and um opportunity for students to um try something new and it sounds like it was really welcomed and appreciated by everyone. So, >> thank you. >> Quick question. Uh that looks like a great program. It's very creative. Do you plan on doing it next year and going to make any changes? >> We haven't thought about that. We're Yeah, we haven't thought about what we would do next year, but we could expand it. >> Yeah. Well, thank you so much. Thank you. [applause] >> Okay, [clears throat] it is now time for public comment and 60 minutes is
012allowed. Each person is limited to three minutes. When addressing the board, we ask that you respect the confidentiality and safety of our students and school district personnel. We also ask that those addressing the board be cognizant that this is an open meeting and is available to all age groups and as such ask that you consider who the audience members are this evening and keep comments age appropriate. Public comment represents the voice and opinion of the speaker. There will be no feedback from the board members during the meeting, but followup will be provided by an administrator as appropriate. Although this is not required, it is helpful for the board to know whether the comments and concerns we hear are being raised by residents. So, we ask that you state if you live in the district and
013if you currently have children in our schools. Tonight, we have four speakers. The first is Christine Garcia. Christina, sorry. >> My name is Christina Garcia. I'm Aurora resident, a parent of two students in the district. I'm here to speak on the district's equity initiative, or more accurately, the lack of it, of Fiser Middle School. Our equity framework promises to address systematic barriers. But equity isn't just a slogan. It's a standard of treatment. When the rules change the moment a student walks into a different building, that isn't equity. It's injustice. We're currently seeing a double standard that suggests some students deserve grace and support while other students deserve compliance and punishment. Look at the recent peaceful protest at Wanzi High School. The administration supported their students right to assembly. The results, zero consequences. Our experience for
014our middle schoolers was a complete betrayal of our district's equity promise. Two days before the walk out, the district sent an email discouraging participation and threatening consequences. At Fiser, those threats were realized, met with warnings, one-day detention, and two-day detention. But the punishment didn't stop there. Those students were forced to write reflective writing prompts mandating why they should have done it differently, how the peaceful pro protests damaged the Falcon Pride. This isn't restorative practices. This is designed to shame the student voices. When I asked for the disciplinary rubric used to justify these specific detentions, the Fiser administration flatly refused to provide it. This approach is partic particularly devastating when you look at who it affects. 38 32.8% of Fiser students identify as Hispanic. My own son, whose multi-racial white and Mexican-American falls into the 5.7
015of two or more races. Rather than supporting the largest minority in the building, the administration has turned its back, choosing to implement multi-layer system of punishment rather than restorative supports they promise. This isn't just about a single protest. It's about a pattern of discriminary enforcement our children witness on the daily. The data is undeniable, Fiser. Hispanic and black childrens face twice the number of inschool and out of school detentions compared to their white peers. When a student sees a pair participate in a peaceful protest without facing the same consequence they did, their trust in the system is destroyed. It teaches them rules are arbitrary and bias. And the falcon pride is just a slogan. It doesn't apply to the very people in charge of protecting them. We need a consistent handbook that mandates consistency for
016every middle school student. True equity in the district cannot exist as long as the handbook allows for this subjective discipline we're seeing today. Until there's a clear, transparent, equally applied rubric for all. Equity framework remains a broken promise. I urge the board to ensure fairness is a right for all students, not for a few privileged. Thank you. >> Thank you. We have the next speaker is Kristen Pierce. >> Good evening. My name is Kristen Pierce and I'm the parent of a student at Longwood Elementary. I want to start by saying how much I appreciate the opportunities Mr. Zean has created for parents to share their concerns both individually and in group settings. That openness matters. I also want to be very clear that I think highly of the staff at Longwood. Our teachers and administrators
017are doing the very best they can with the resources they have. Longwood is a diverse school and that diversity is a strength, but it also comes with real challenges that cannot be ignored. With the district average for low-income students around 18%, Longwood's population is closer to 48%. Although title title one funding is appreciated, it does not fully address the scope of what the school is facing dayto-day. Our teachers are managing an extraordinary amount. They regularly deal with dangerous and disrespectful behavior, often without the level of support these these situations require. Looking at the data, Longwood's teacher retention rate for 2025 is 74%. Just 5 years ago is above 83 and in 2022 it was nearly 88%. Meanwhile, the district average today is 93.8%. That means Longwood is not only below the district average, but has
018experienced a steady decline in retention. That gap is significant. In addition, 20.4% of Longwood's teachers are considered novice, meaning they have less than two years of experience. The district a average is just 3.9%. Nearly one in five teachers at Longwood are new to their profession. These are dedicated educators who deeply care about their students. But when a but when a school serving one of the highest needs populations also has the lowest retention and the highest concentration of novice teachers, it raises serious concerns about stability and equity. Last year, my daughter had a first year teacher. She was and still is an excellent educator, and I cannot speak highly enough of her dedication and care for her students. However, despite her efforts, the classroom environment was frequently frequently chaotic. My daughter witnessed desk being flipped, garbage
019cans kicked and thrown, excessive profanity, repeated classroom removals, and ongoing disruptive behavior. Over time, desks were removed entirely and replaced with tables to manage the situation. I ask you to pause and consider this. Is this the learning environment we want any that we would want for any of our children on a daily basis? There is a lot of discuss discussion about equity across schools in the district, but Longwood does not appear to experience that equity in practice. When I tell other parents my child attends Longwood, the reaction is often, oh, how is it there? That perception matters and it is shaping decisions families are making. What makes this especially difficult is that I also speak with neighbors who had children attend Longwood years ago. children who have now aged out of the district. They consistently
020talk about their experience with pride. They describe a song strong sense of community, stability, and a school they felt confident sending their children to each day. That makes the current perception even more concerning. Longwood was once viewed as a great school. My hope is that with the right support, >> thank you, the speaker time has ended. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. [applause] The next speaker is Ginger Evers. >> Hi, my name is Ginger I Evers and I have three students in district 204, two of which attend Nua Valley High School at the main building. I'm here today to talk about a very serious safety concern that I have with Nua Valley High School. My oldest son is a senior and he was in a car accident on Wildcat Way about 10 days ago.
021While I don't plan to go into the specifics about the accident to protect everyone's privacy, I do want to share with the school board what I learned from the accident. See, my son kept saying the day of the accident and the following morning that he didn't understand what he had done wrong. And it wasn't until I witnessed the traffic flow occurring on Wildcat Way that I understood why. The current setup of Wildcat Way encourages confusion for drivers. It also encourages the violation of rules of the road in the state of Illinois. Wildcat Way is a twolane road that intersects with 95th Street. It runs southbound towards the school and northbound away from the school. Students are the primary users of this road as it is how multiple student parking lots are accessed. Specifically, students can
022access either the athletic parking lot or the football stadium parking lot or they can continue on behind the building. This particular safety issue can really only be seen during the morning when students are arriving at school as the issue is with the design of the southbound lane on Wildcat Way. Again, Wildcat Way is a two-lane road. When headed southbound into the school from 95th Street, Wildcat Way is initially a single lane. After a few hundred feet, it is widened. Where the road is widened, the two yellow lines dividing the road create a pseudo left turn lane. I say pseudo because the lines jut out at an angle and are painted in a way that could suggest to someone, especially a new driver, that a turn lane is being created. What is happening in the morning
023is some of these drivers who are turning left into the athletic school parking lot scoot over. There is then just enough room for drivers who are turning right into the football stadium parking lot or continuing on ahead to create a second lane. The widening of this road is causing us a lot of issues. The problem in Illinois is that it's illegal to pass someone on the right within a 100 ft of an intersection. It's also illegal to pass another vehicle at a pedestrian crosswalk. I want to repeat this. It's illegal, according to the rules of the road in Illinois, for someone to pass another vehicle on the right within a 100 ft of an intersection or at a pedestrian crosswalk. Yet, this is happening on a daily basis at Nua Valley. and the lane markings
024on Wildcat Way are encouraging this behavior and no one at NIA is doing anything about it. >> Miss Donna Hugh, the speaker's time has ended. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. >> The next speaker is Alicia Smith. Hello, my name is Alicia Smith. I grew up in the district. I taught for 13 years in the district. I'm a resident of the district. The Fiser walk out, according to the handbook, is a level two offense. But calling someone a racial slur or an orientation slur or derogatory name at Fiser, according to the handbook, is a level one offense. So, a child that I love who participated in the walk out got disciplined with a two-day detention versus his first time at Fiser Middle School this year, was called a black slur in November,
025was called a derogatory name in December, and was called an orientation slur last month. those three different students in three different classes who said those harmful words to him only to have a level one offense where he did not harm anyone and he has a level two offense. Also, like the speaker before me said, part of the issues going on at Fiser, part of the issues going on at Longwood, part of the fish issues going on at Georgetown is what I have talked to the school board about time and time again. They're systemic. They're systemic and they are created partly by the board. You have way too many lowincome students above the district average in those schools. Then you feed all of Georgetown and two other low-income title schools into Fiser where the overwhelming needs
026are not able to be met by the resources in the building which is what the previous speaker said about Longwood which is very true about Georgetown where I worked there for six years and any Georgetown teacher can tell you that then you have three title schools getting fed into Fiser and it's a wonder why these issues are happening. Why a sixth grader who is coming to middle school for the first time gets to experience that. And then you want to tell restorative justice. How do you do restorative justice for that? Why don't you come home and you can tell him how restorative justice works in that situation which has happened to him three times. Please stop promoting systemic inequities in the district and really start to look at what is causing the inequities at Longwood,
027Georgetown, McCarti, and Fiser because it is not safe for our students. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Okay, we now move to our consent agenda and superintendent report. We will begin with the superintendent report. Dr. Tally. Thank you, Miss Donnie Hugh. Members of the board of education, Indian Prairie community, as I mentioned at the last board of education meeting, we will have our fourth annual mental health symposium on Saturday, March the 7th at Matia High School. We currently have more than 350 people signed up for the symposium. You can find information on our website about the event. We will have a keynote for adults and for the first time a keynote for students. We are pleased that Neapville 203, Asiggo, and Eastora school districts are working with us on this event. We are also
028thankful for the following companies and agencies for helping to sponsor our event. Our silver sponsors at $2,500 include Endeavor Health, Behavioral Health, Lynden Oaks Hospital, Reliable Home Improvement, and Duly Health and Care. our bronze sponsors at a thousand dollars, East Mover Credit Union, Grow Wellness Group and Grow Wellness Foundation and Authentic Growth Wellness Group and our friend sponsors of $500 Napville Park District and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Illinois. Finally, we thank Indian Prairie Education Foundation for their donation of $10,500 in support of the symposium. Part of that funding came from the Neapville City Social Services Grant. We would not be able to have this event without the help of all of these sponsors. Parents are asked to complete their school five essential surveys. Survey results are important part of school improvement process. Data
029from the surveys help each school's administration understand what is going well in the school and where they can improve. For a school to receive results, however, a school must have 20% of its parents complete the surveys. You should have received information about the surveys from your child's school, as well as from our weekly email. Though we still have a few weeks to go, I want to applaud White Eagle, Longwood, and Graham for having more than 20% of their parents completing the surveys. Sitting right there at the line is Springbrook with 19% of parents completing the survey. Remember, surveys must be completed by March 13th. Miss Donahghue, I'll return it back to you. >> Okay. I now need a motion for the approval of consent agenda items D through H. >> I move that the board
030of education approve consent agenda items D through H as presented. >> Any discussion? >> Okay. Michelle, will you please call the RO? >> Miss Gint? Yes, >> Miss Grover. >> Miss Donahghue. >> Yes, >> Miss Fix. >> Yes, >> Mr. Kurubis. >> Yes, >> and Miss Demi. >> The motion passes. >> Now we will have a presentation from Matt Shipley regarding the financial forecast presentation. >> All right. Good evening, members of the board of education. Uh, as mentioned, I'm here tonight to present our five-year forecast presentation. This is sort of an annual tradition to be in front of the board here in late February uh presenting um the highest level that we will go into our to our budget and and long range financial planning uh annually. This tends to be one of our longer
031discussions. I think last year we clocked in right at two hours. So, I'll try and go a little faster this year. Need you to do your part, too. So, uh, tonight's presentation is in line with strategic plan priority number four and board policy 4. >> You will know Mr. Rising is not here, so that might help. >> We're starting with a little head start. So, let's let's keep going. >> All right. So, uh, tonight before we start looking, uh, looking forward and looking into the future years, I think it's it's important to kind of take a take a step back and look at how we finished out the prior year and also how we were doing year-to date with our budget to actual summaries. Uh, we'll then go into our operating revenues, five-year forecast. Uh,
032touch a little bit about operating expenditures and sort of our plan and proposal uh, for operating expenditures moving forward. Uh, no graphs or charts related to operating expenses tonight. That was intentional. we didn't miss a slide or or miss an opportunity for another chart in this. Uh but really we're uh administration was excited to really really take a little different spin on the operating expenses and have a little different discussion this evening. Uh we're going to cover our nonoperating funds which is primarily the the funds as a result of our safer stronger 204 referendum. Uh and then of course we'll have time for uh summarizing next steps and any board questions. Um so again first we're going to start uh with looking at our operating funds. Uh as a reminder, our our all our financial
033reporting is done in accordance with state board of education requirements which designates six funds as operating funds for the district. Um the three primary funds are education, operations, maintenance and transportation fund. This also includes smaller funds such as the IMRF fund, working cash and tort liability. Um these are the funds that focus on the day-to-day operations of the districts both from a revenue and expense perspective. And these funds were not directly impacted by the November 2024 safer stronger 204 referendum. And so as mentioned, this is how we did uh kind of our our prior year actual results compared to what we budgeted for the prior year. Uh these results have been finalized and been through our audit process. They've been filed with the state board of education right around um right around Christmas time. And
034so these are our final numbers for for all our actual revenues and actual expenses expenses. And uh really we showed these these numbers and some of these trends at this time last year. And really those trends held as we um went into the spring of 2025 and finished the year. And so in general what we saw is favorable budget variance on the revenue side of almost 7 million uh really coming across um all main revenue categories. Um but a lot of these were are temporary revenues or one-time revenues. And what we saw is we saw expenditures also overbudget um again compared to an over $400 million budget over by a relatively small amount about 1.5%. But a lot of these expenditures had the potential or have the potential to to represent recurring expenditures. And so
035while we were able to cover those variances uh last year and still come out with a balanced budget, this really put us in motion to to really uh review expenditure trends and and identify what was causing some of these variances. Uh some of the main challenges last year were that we were 13 FTE above budget. Um that really was the result of some uh hirings we had to do in the fall to to prepare for some unexpected uh class size uh increases or or higher enrollment than we anticipated as well as some specific special education needs. Uh we continued to see some challenges in our purchase services department also related to some some special education services we provide through a contractual service relationship. Um and then we also did see some some increase in in
036supplies as well that that really represented a variety of things but but uh digital softwares and licenses and subscriptions is one item that we're really starting to identify uh is running above budget both last year and and this year. U so overall we we saw this variance and and that really put it put in motion what what we tried to do with the current budget for 2526 the year that we're um a little more than halfway through as of today. So this was the 2026 operating budget that we uh that we passed in in August. Uh you will see we did project uh a slight excess and we projected a fund balance of revenue of 34.4%. So right in line with what our uh board's uh fund balance policy was or a little bit above
037that that 25% threshold. um these these budget line items if you if you were to compare them to the prior slide you'll see that we identif we kind of met in the middle a little bit with some of these expenditures. So we so we recognize some of those expenditure trends but also set some targets to kind of kind of reduce from prior year actuals as as part of this budget and that leads us to where we are uh kind of kind of period to date. So what's shown here is our prior year our uh current year actuals through January 31st. It actually compares that to the prior year year-to date so that you can kind of see that comparison um like for like where we are year-to- date. But then it takes that current year
038actual and adds sort of sort of a fivemonth projection for the remaining five months of the year to get to that year-end projection column. And then from that year-end projection column, we're able to compare that to budget and and again see kind of where we're trending, where we expect to end the year. And so kind of a combination of of or or mixed news here to share. Uh in general, uh we're more in line with budget than where we were at this time last year, but we do still have some challenges in the the expense area that we're working through. Um so you'll notice a a negative or unfavorable variances in that purchase services line of about one just short of 1.5 million. Uh that's related to special education transportation. Um again, similar to to
039last year where where we had some uh um things come up at the last minute in this in this support services or special education area. Uh we similarly had some special education transportation needs uh specifically around the needs of of expanded use of bus aids, expanded use of of additional adult support on those routes. Uh and and that's become a real challenging uh cost center to manage for us. Um again that that supplies and materials category is trending above budget too and and as mentioned earlier that's really that that license and uh software subscription category that's continuing to trend above. So we continue to manage both those categories. Uh we did for the transportation for example and we did some mid-year route changes and some fairly significant rerouting of our buses which ended up saving
040several hundred,000. So, these are things we're actively managing, but did want want to make the board and the community aware that these are areas where we're we're trending above budget. Um, again, a little difference from from last year uh because we do not have as many um favorable variances on the revenue side. This does equate to to closer to a balanced budget or or even a slight deficit than where we were trending last year. Uh hopefully as we continue to to manage expenditures and manage to the next five months, we could bring that closer in line to budget. But as of today, we are showing that that slight deficit for the current year. So with that kind of our basis, as we look forward, uh we're going to transition into that five-year for uh look
041forward for revenues. Uh just starting here, just just a reminder of how our revenues break down between those major categories. Uh a reminder, our revenue makeup has stayed consistent for 10 plus years with property taxes being the overwhelming uh source of our revenues coming in at 77%. So, I think sometimes we spend a lot of time talking about those other pieces of the pie, but the reality shown here is that property taxes uh continues to be the the overwhelming majority of our revenues. So, we'll just start here kind of showing the the historical trend and and going back to 2018. Uh couple re 2018 all the way to 2030. So, showing a 10 plus year look at total revenues here. um both kind of kind of a simple chart as well as more of a
042graph form. Uh we're going to go back to 2018 for for all revenues uh this evening and we're going to do that for a couple reasons. The first is that it does kind of take us prior co to to co so we can kind of see the impact of of some of those uh co years show in that in general we're kind of coming back and and fully back in line with historical trends. Uh the second reason 2018 is an important year and we'll get to this a little bit more in the state discussion, but that's the first year of evidence-based funding. So again, by going back to 2018, we're able to really uh to to really say, okay, how how is this how is our overall revenue picture? How is our state revenue changed
043as a result of that evidence-based funding uh passing in 2018. But again, st staying here with revenues for for a second, uh you you'll see that gradual growth. Again, that that shouldn't be surprising. our our property tax revenue does have a an allowance to grow by the consumer price index each year. And then you'll see also the the percent increase we we've shown which is shown in that orange line there. So again uh getting back more in line with historical trends after a couple years where it was uh in the 5 to 6% range. Again that was coming out of co that was as a result of some of those large um consumer price index numbers we saw in 21 and 22. Uh this is a a fairly uh involved slide and I won't uh
044won't read it to you this evening, but just want to make just wanted to provide a table uh that we've provided in the past which really references all the key drivers of that property tax revenue both for what the district receives but also what the impact of that property tax levy is on our taxpayers. Uh so going down the left you'll see kind of five key assumptions. uh you'll see what what assumption range we're making for for that that assumption over the next five years as well as the impact that has on again on both the district operating revenue as well as on our current taxpayers. Um so most of these do have have further detail uh that we'll get into in a minute. Uh one item I'll I'll point out uh because I think
045it's been a couple years since we've really really talked about it at the board level is that TIFF distribution line. Um so as a reminder we do have a couple TIFFs in our district. uh tiffs in uh uh K12 education in in Illinois kind of is a is a dirty word. Uh but we are fortunate that within our two tiffs we have an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Aurora which does offer us some some protection from from the challenges that that tiffs often represent to to school districts. So uh at a high level when a tiff is formed that limits the amount of property growth that our property tax levy can access within that tiff. Uh the the intention of this is generally that a city declares an area um blighted or or in
046need of redevelopment that otherwise wouldn't be possible without that incentive. And as a result, that kind of locks the district out of accessing that any sort of future property tax growth from that area. U through through our negotiations and relationship with the city of Aurora, we were able to get some protection uh with the with uh the two tiffs that are in our district. uh in really in in two in two key areas. One, we've reduced the length of those tiffs from 23 years to 15 years and they cannot be renewed without our uh without school district consent or without school district negotiations. And then the second the second key way we were able to to sort of protect the district is to the extent those tiffs do generate residential housing, we do receive a
047payment for that in full. And so, uh, with the first TIFF being the of being the Fox Valley Mall, uh, area or or what's kind of known as the inner circle of the mall, we do start we we do now have residential housing coming online from that mall. We will start receiving that revenue from the city of Aurora. And so, again, those are two key protections that are going to limit the impact of of that TIFF uh, on our district going forward. Uh again, 15 years is is shorter than 23, but it still takes us out to 2034 or 2035. So, we still have a while before we can start accessing um the the growth in that commercial EAV within that tiff, but we will start receiving those payments tied to the residential portion of
048that tiff. So, as already mentioned, really the the main driver of of that revenue for tied to property taxes is the consumer price index. uh we're able to increase our levy by the lesser of 5% or CPI uh each year. Uh again you'll see that we are predicting uh closer to stable CPI. So again coming down from a level in 2021 and 2022 we were in the 67 range with CPI um coming somebody got it. Okay so coming down more into the more into the traditional range we see of being being a little bit above 2%. Um and in a a reminder those CPI um those CPI amounts do lag. So the CPI that we already know for calendar years 24 and 25, those will drive um really the next um up to the next
049two years. We are we already kind of know where our property tax revenue is headed. The next key driver then is is the amount of new property. So, uh, current current taxpayers kind of receive, uh, the receive that the increase tied to the consumer price index. And then after that sort of calculation happens, we're able to add on any new commercial or residential property onto that tax levy each year. Um, again, shown here going back several years is sort of the the annual new property aotment. And you'll see we're expecting the current levy to have a significant amount of new property tied to it and then an amount that is probably slightly above um where we've been over historical trend but but a little bit more in line. And then uh the chart here kind
050of in in green and yellow uh is really what some of those uh anticipated properties are. So, uh, one of the the the good things that that we have with the district is we, uh, and relationships with, uh, all our municipalities, we have really good relationships to kind of understand what commercial properties are coming on board over the next couple years, what what residential properties are being considered. Both our municipalities value our input on on both those uh, development types as well. And so, we are able to have a pretty good understanding of of what to expect going forward. And so, um, I'll just point out point up a few here. We have we have several developments of of uh in the commercial side that we uh will be coming online here for property tax
051payments in the next couple years. And then in that 3 to 5 years uh area, we are you know that that's a little bit further out. Uh it's a little bit more conceptual at this time, but we are having discussions with the city of Neapville on their plans for the I88 corridor. Um that probably represents the the most significant opportunity we have for uh commercial development in that three to five year range. So, uh, one of the things on that that last slide you may have noticed is that we're we're listing some some properties, some some things that are already up and running and have been for a while, uh, as new property within still within that 1 to threeyear horizon. And so, if you looked at that and saw on block 59 and said,
052"Well, I I've driven by it. The parking lot's always packed. I've I've gone to Cheesecake Factory. We've had Stans Donuts in the district uh several times. uh why are we still not receiving property tax revenue uh for that district? Why is that still listed as new property? And and so what's shown here is kind of kind of the reality of of that commercial development. Uh that just like that CPI factor, it it can lag up to two years when new property um uh is built or constructed or or when new commercial developments open and when we actually start seeing that revenue. And so I think the block 59 is a great great example of of being able to show that concept. Um you'll see that you you go back to 2023 is when the city
053council first uh sort of approved or or supported that business district. Uh discussions actually predated that. I think uh as as a district we actually uh issued a letter of support for the the concept back in 2022. And so you'll see from that approval uh you know on forward uh we started seeing restaurants open in the the early 2025 definitely saw significant growth throughout uh the summer and fall of 25 but we're still looking at June of 2027 really being the first time we're going to see significant property tax uh dollars from that development. So overall when you when you take this concept and you kind of um you know uh take it at the 30,000 foot view or look at the district level uh it you know we we can have great relationships with
054our cities. We can we can know what's what's coming from both the commercial and residential side. The reality is that the timing of of of new property and understanding you know when these developments will really create property tax dollars continues to to be a little bit of an estimate u or a challenge to predict. Uh finally for property taxes, just want to just wanted to kind of show show two two charts or images kind of right next to each other and talk talk through kind of the the dichotomy that this shows. And so uh on the one side we're showing a chart that shows u about a 20-year history of our property tax rate. And you'll see we're we're at a point where our property tax rate is one of the is at the lowest
055it's been in that period. So going all the way back to 2008. Uh so for the the taxpayer that that represents good news. That represents that the dollars they're paying in property taxes relative to the value of their property is the lowest it has been uh again in in a generation. But the second chart talks about a property tax burden shift or or a shift of how those dollars are being being received by the district. And so this is sort of the um you know while we have good news on the rate, this this does represent a challenge for for our taxpayers. And so, uh, what's kind of kind of shown here is that we we know what's really driving that that incre that lower rate throughout the district is an increase in housing values.
056So, we've seen residential properties uh, the value of those growth significantly really again coming out of that COVID period. Uh, our EAV is kind of a lagging in indicator. So, it's still trying to catch up as it's it's valuing those properties and as a result that's driving that rate lower. At the same time, commercial property hasn't seen that same level of of growth. And in in some sectors, it's it's even declined a little bit. And so, as residential property values growing, commercial staying stagnant, and that's shifting tax burden from commercial properties onto residents. Um, so again, what that means is that that property tax burden, even though it's at a lower rate, it's it's it's a more total dollars are coming from our residents as opposed to commercial property. Um, you know, again, given the
057size of the district and the number of properties involved, it can be a little difficult to estimate the um, you know, to estimate the actual dollar impact or or come up with a dollar figure of this. But what I've what what I've been able to estimate or what I've been able to see is that we've gone from having about commercial property repping sending about 20 or 21% of our properties down to about 18%. So again, that's that's a significant shift when you're talking about 3% of your your total property tax base shifting from commercial industrial onto residents in in a relatively short period of time. So after talking about property taxes again being our our largest financial uh source, we're going to move to the second largest, which is the state of Illinois. And this
058always tends to be uh you know where where we start getting a little bit of heartburn in the presentation. Uh just wanted to summarize here what sort of the state of Illinois's financial picture was leading into budget discussions. And so this is really just just meant to be a snapshot of of what was being reported in the news about the state of Illinois's finances over the past several months. Um so first leading into the budget uh presentation that the governor gave last week, there was a projected $2.2 billion deficit uh driven both by by structural imbalances as well as uncertainty over federal funding. Um shown shown next is kind of the current bond ratings of the uh of the state. And you know on their face they may look good. You see a a minus.
059Um I think bond rating agencies were the first victims of grade inflation because those really um are only three notches above junk grade. So so th those are considered to be um medium grade ratings. Um, and again, ju just a couple notches and and the state would actually be close closer to junk territory. Uh, as a reminder, Indian Prairie has a AAA bond rating from S&P, which is seven notches higher than the state of Illinois. And then kind of going going around the the bottom there is kind of some specific challenges tied to suburban school districts. Uh, whether that's the EBF adequacy gap, whether that's the the the current pension challenge. So again that the state is supposed to be making contributions to uh our teachers retirement uh system on our behalf. Those those payments
060have have over many years lagged what was actuarily u calculated and as a result that's created additional pensions challenges. And then again one of one of the challenges uh that we already mentioned a little bit but just that property tax pressure and and need to really rely on property taxes uh in lie of these state challenges. Um so with that as the background the state um Governor Pritsker gave his state of the Illinois govern um budget address last Wednesday. Uh and overall he the term that was used was a maintenance budget and when we talk for K12 education I think overall the impact was about as positive as we could have expected um all things considered. Um so the governor is recommending $355 million in increased EVF funding and 50 million in additional categorical funding.
061Uh but again, as we'll we'll walk through in a little bit, that for Indian Prairie, that that really represents a minimal amount of new funding, about 500,000 of evidence-based funding dollars. And then uh really just kind of providing a little bit of stability on the categorical side. Uh should be noted, this is just the governor's initial address. This does not represent the final budget in any shape or form. That that process will continue throughout the spring. Generally, the legislature uh pushes hard on the May 31st deadline to get that passed. Um they like to give us a little bit of uncertainty and something to you know worry about that Memorial Day weekend every year. So um you know to while we're at graduations and things like that, we can also be checking the state budget,
062right? So excuse me. Uh EBF again represents the the the largest portion of that state budget representing about 10% of our revenues. Uh again, what we're projecting a growth of about $500,000 as a result of that that proposed budget. Uh shown here, just just a quick uh kind of graphic or or or explanation of of that EBF calculation. Every district in the state is is assigned a specific adequacy target. This is based on specific factors to that district tied to student demographics, the enrollment growth. uh there's a there's an adjustment based on what county in the state you're on to try and factor in um you know wage growth rel wage needs or or wage uh levels relative to other parts of the state. So a very um comprehensive but but uh uh but difficult
063and and challenging uh calculation on that adequacy piece. Um the second piece of the formula then looks at local wealth. So, how much property tax um tax revenue the district's receiving, what that overall EAV or property wealth is, um potentially what other local revenues are available, and based on the balance between those two, it assigns an adequacy target to the district. So, Indian Prairie continues to be a tier 2 district. Uh at this point, we're one of the um I I would venture we're one of the few districts that stayed in tier 2 the whole nine years of evidence-based funding. And really what that that puts us in is this sort of middle ground where we're a district where the formula has identified that we have needs that are not being met by our current
064revenue sources, but we've really not opened up additional uh significant additional funding. Again, as shown in the chart, we tend to average growing between one and 2% of revenue each year under EBF. Uh and that sort of leads us into to sort of the the annual look at our comparable districts. Again, this this is kind of the greatest hit slide uh as part of this presentation. So, we put it right in the middle of the show instead of having to wait to the encore. Uh but shown here uh is is Indian Prairie compared to our uh seven other comparable districts. These are the highest performing unit districts in the state. And you'll uh see that we continue to spend significantly below our comparable districts. Uh we came in at just short of $17,000 of operating
065expense per pupil last year. Um the range of our comparable districts range from 18,500 all the way up to just short of 22,000. Um again, what drives that difference? Again, as a reminder for for the board and for people who have seen this slide in the past, uh we are a state that's o overly reliant on property taxes. Again, 77% of our revenue comes from property taxes. And we're a state where that that state dollars has focused on rising the floor but hasn't really made its way to to tier 2 districts like Indian Prairie. And so when you look at our EAV per pupil being the lowest of the eight districts, there's just not a significant amount of state dollars that are going to be able to close that gap when 77% of our revenue
066comes from property taxes. Um all these other districts significantly higher EAV per pupil. All our tier three and four districts. Uh the reality is that means they can spend more per pupil than Indian Prairie and in most cases it also means they have a lower tax rate than Indian Prairie as well. Uh I know the chart here is a little hard to read but but the actual um numbers Indian Prairie's EAV per pupil for the for 2023 was 272,000 per student. Uh compared to Neapville 203 on there, which is not even the highest, came in at 371,000. So that's just short of $100,000 more EAB per pupil that our uh nearest district of the eight has over Indian Prairie. And so again, this is this is kind of a a a different take on that
067or sort of a new way to to look at that. And uh what's shown here is those same eight districts and that same operating expense per pupil number for 2024 that we just saw. Um you know, flip the chart from going horizontal to vertical just to to make sure everybody's paying attention. and we changed the colors to to orange and blue um because we know Illinois is going to the final four this year and just wanted to to remind everybody of that before the big game against Michigan on Friday. Um with that said, what you what you'll see here in the blue is the 2017 operating expense per pupil and then blue plus orange being the 2024. I want to point out that IND our operating expense per pupil has grown just short of $5,000
068in that that seven or eight years. Again, seven or eight year period that saw some significant inflation that saw the the challenges tied with CO. The average amount of growth was $5,200. So again, a tier 2 district with identified need is still growing at a at a lower dollar amount than tier 3es and tier four districts. Even though we're getting some additional state money, those tier three and tier four districts have the property tax base to still outspend Indian Prairie consistently year-to-year. So again, with that with that challenge or that lens of the challenge on the on the EBF side of the table, I it's time to shift and look at our our categorical funding. And one of the things that I I think is uh um slightly encouraging over the past uh six months
069or so in in discussions with uh state legislators, people uh legislators are starting to recognize that this challenge exists as well. I think there was a a mindset or or a belief that as long as uh money was allocated evidence-based funding at the state level, um that that represented the number one priority and everything was sort of good from a state funding level. And I think uh there's been a kind of a a ground swell of advocacy which has pointed out the importance of the categoricals over the past couple years. Um so so what's shown here again down the um down the left side is sort of our our categorical uh revenue by year. One thing to remember about the categorical it does not have a hold harmless or base funding component similar to EBF.
070So the amount can go down between between years and again when the state's not allocating new dollars or is under allocating to the categoricals that that possibility becomes more likely. Um a reminder here just sort of how the categoricals work. There's um three specific cost centers that are tied to the categoricals. that is our uh transportation uh both our general transportation and our special education transportation as well as our outplace tuition services for our special education students that need that service. Uh we submit claims that tell the the state how much we are spending in those areas and then the state is supposed to fund 80% of those costs. uh what actually happens that there's a pration process which is kind of shown in the middle here that that takes the total cost takes what
071was allocated by the general assembly and determines how much of those funds can actually be supported by the state and that's how we then get our actual revenue calculation. So for transportation this is the same uh chart we showed last month when we uh overviewed our transportation services with the board. Um again you will see total cost um growing that's the orange plus the blue category um total compared to what was funded by the state the state being just the orange piece and you'll see again the state funding has stayed relatively consistent as those costs have grown shifting um shifting about $10 million or or increasing the need for local uh dollars towards transportation by about $10 million over that period. Um the actual award amount between 25 and 26 did grow slightly by about
072350,000 but again as shown in the graph that was not enough to to keep pace with the rising costs and it's the out it's the outplace tuition or the private facility tuition that has been the real challenge for our with the categoricals this year. We've actually seen a $1.1 million decrease in that categorical amount. And so I just want to spend a a minute kind of kind of explaining what happened. And it it really ties directly with a um with with a new state law which was Senate Bill 366. Uh so shown here kind of in the table is kind of the objectives of that bill. Uh the goal was to to expand the availability of that categorical for districts. Um so that districts could receive reimbursement uh not just for private facilities but also
073if they place students in public day schools as well. And so the idea was really to provide par between the private um special education facilities as well as the public uh facilities. The challenge uh I I think I the challenge became when additional money was not allocated to the categorical pot. We ended up with an expanded number of districts that had elig eligibility, expanded number of services that were eligible, but the same dollar amounts allocated to the to the program. And that significantly increased the pration statewide. Uh for a district like Indian Prairie, which is a large um unit district, a district with a lot of um uh just by our size, has the ability to serve some of these students uh internally and prioritize that. um we generally weren't using public day facilities. We
074were only using private facilities. And so just our mix of students and how we've um been able to serve those students or made made some programming um uh decisions around serving those students resulted in us um really really being negatively impacted by that that change in in in the paration percentage. Um so I think this is this is an example where I think there was there were there are good intentions behind this law. I think in theory uh we can agree that that public and and private facilities should have been should be put on the same playing field but when that um legislation uh came into place and there wasn't additional funding tied to it this had a this has a negative impact uh directly for Indian prairie. So I just want to take that
075that discussion uh of all the state revenues and ju just just just kind of close um comparing it to the growth in in the consumer price index since 2018. So again using 2018 as the base year when when evidence-based funding started um you could see that pretty quickly the actual amounts the district received each year started falling below inflation even as as early as 2020 or 2021. um that gap has widened and now represents about a $10 million gap. So again, on the property tax side, while we have some protection against the rising costs and consumer price index, we've not seen that on on the state side. And again, that's even with our evidence-based funding percentage being 84% and us being considered a tier 2 district. We spent a lot of time last year talking
076about federal funding. I think uh uh again things have relatively um stabilized in in the federal level. Uh we've come off of the period where we saw um significant esser um er dollars uh tied to co relief. Those programs have now expired. Um we've we've recently seen bipartisan budget proposals that um again the language here stall gutting the US Department of Education. though we've uh you know really really uh gotten to a point where we're looking at more of a con consistent budget or or no flat budget from prior years as opposed to where some of the discussion was a year ago where there were they were looking at some significant changes to the Department of Education budget. I just want to spend a minute closing with with two revenues that that sometimes we don't
077talk about as much. Uh they are smaller. they represent just 1% of our total revenues. But I wanted to talk about them again just to show some of that variance and and that's happened over the the past 10 plus years and and again how I think we've proactively managed these revenue sources. Uh the first is the corporate personal property replacement tax or CPPRT. Uh again a relatively minor revenue source for the district but one that did see a significant increase um during during the the period of 2022 to 2024. Uh as an administrative team, we recognized this was likely temporary and so we really prioritized using those dollars on one-time uses. Uh that included our our elementary curriculum refresh as well as some significant capital work. And so that that's enabled us to sort of
078um not have to see see reductions or or um reduce expenditures now that those revenues have come back to historical levels. Similarly, we've also seen our investment earnings fluctuate wildly. Uh, you know, based on our our cash flow and based on our our ability to invest our our excess dollars, we are really um really tied to whatever the short-term interest rate is. So, as short-term interest rates increase, we see additional uh investment revenue, but then as they start to come back uh lower as as part of the Federal Reserve's decision, as part of the the general economic cycles, we do we do have some exposure as those numbers come down. And so, similarly, we recognize the increases in 2023 um and 2024 were were likely temporary. We use those funds on one-time uses, and as
079a result, we have a little bit less exposure um going forward as as those rates start to look look to come down. So, we're forecasting, our forecast there assumes a 3% rate. That's slightly lower than the current rate of 3.75%. It does seem to be um relatively in line and a little conservative of what what's being pro uh projected by the market uh for the coming uh for the coming years of 26 and 27. So, overall putting all those revenue sources together, here is uh here's a summary of our revenues for the next five years. Again, we are projecting total revenue to increase 2.3 and 2.6%. Um, again, we we could have probably summarized this and and gone a little quicker if we just said we think revenue will generally grow by about CPI, but
080I think again it's important to understand what's really um driving that growth is that property tax amount. We're expecting state and federal sources to to remain relatively flat. So, as mentioned earlier, we just want to talk briefly about operating expenses tonight. uh our team just just again seeing the variances we showed earlier have been working hard to to to understand our our expense trajectory and and being proactive in managing that. Um currently our our district team is targeting 2 million in reductions from the current budget for next year. Um looking at doing that with minimizing impact on school-based positions. So again, a lot of the things um uh we talked about earlier with subscriptions, with licenses, uh working with uh working with reducing our hiring average and finding ways to to uh sort of creatively
081manage that that salary um line item without necessarily impacting total number of positions. Um we were able to negotiate and have already had board approval for a transportation service contract at 5% renewal. um that is still above CPI, but it is we're getting closer than where we've been in the last several years. Uh we will go into operating expenses in much more detail when we present uh the next budget update in May. And then I do again want to pivot to a long-term initiative we're working on uh which is developing an academic ROI model. So, I I do want to mention uh just kind of kind of as an anidote, I first discussed uh this initiative with Dr. Tally uh actually before I started in this position back in 2020. And so, it's it's only
082appropriate that we're finally getting around to it as he's got about four months left at the district. But uh you know that that we really do we we we continue to revisit the topic uh him and I and and other administrators every every couple months and and you know never really could find quite the right time to really dive into this. But we really do think this is the right opportunity for a couple reasons. Uh first, as as the board knows, we've been hard at work with our IMTSS initiative, and so we think this is really an opportunity to to really take advantage of some good work that that's being done at both the district and the school level with our IMTSS model. Uh we've really worked to improve our our data systems and our
083ability to use student data in a in a proactive and meaningful way. So, as much as I think we we all like to to the semiannual or annual presentation of student data to the board, um we realize that has limited ability to to impact decisions in real time. So, how do we empower our building leaders, our principles, our district, our building leadership teams to really access and use data in real time uh in a way that that's really um empowering them to make decisions that impact students and and encourage student growth. Um fi, you know, third, we we did have the opportunity with our COVID relief dollars, not just in this district, but but in districts throughout the state and country to really see some innovative initiatives. And so now we have the the ability
084now, while it's maybe a little bit more challenging of environment, we have some ideas that we can evaluate if you know how effective they were, you know, either for our students in 204 or for students in other districts as well. And then finally, there is that need component too. we think this is the right time just just based on where the the budget trends are are going the minimal sources of new revenue we see on the horizon. Um and so what this concept is if if I had to um you know simplify it into a couple sentences is we're really trying to make a direct link between our financial data and how we spend our dollars and our student outcomes. And so really ensuring that any dis any decision about um about student student growth
085about about new programming is really tied directly to the the student data we're trying to impact the student outcomes we're trying to achieve as well as the cost and that is evaluated in in a relative basis. So something could have um really good student impact, but if it's it's a very expensive initiative, that's going to score a little differently than something that could have the same or or even lower student impact, but comes at a lower cost. Um, and so the eval the the ability to evaluate everything we do in the district kind of through that lens and having a consistent language throughout the district and some consistent methods, consistence priorities, being able to align that with our strategic plan, with our equity plan and and again with our with our school improvement plans down
086at the school level as well. Um again I you know that I think anytime you start going down this road people immediately start thinking you're you're talking about reductions or or programs to eliminate but I think you know this is also an exciting opportunity to see what programs we need to expand as well. Uh so to be able to see what is working at our schools and and be able to take something that maybe has a good um anecdotal um feeling. You know people say I think this is good for kids. I think this is working. but be able to see the data and be able to say which students is this working for specifically and can we leverage that and expand it to to a broader population throughout the district. So again, just wanted
087to introduce this concept tonight. So I won't spend much more time on it. Uh we are looking uh we are looking to bring a proposal forward to the board um in the next month or so. Uh we're currently evaluating some partners who will who will help us through this journey. And so, uh, if this is something that that the the board is as excited about as we are, we hope we can, uh, sort of approve the next steps for this this journey in the next couple months. All right. So, I do want to close with our non-operating funds this evening. Uh, again, we have two non-operating funds that are maintained by the district, that being our debt service and capital projects funds. Um these do focus on the long-term investment in district facilities as uh
088that's through the initial investment through the capital projects fund as well as the repayment of any uh related financing through the debt service fund. Um as the board knows we have very limited recurring revenue for capital investment. So this really does become a discussion about um long-term financing and bonds. And uh for our district that is really the safer stronger 204 referendum. Uh so we'll we'll cover here shortly. also uh why it's important and how we're tracking the the safer stronger 204 referendum funds separately from some some other capital funds that we'd accumulated uh prior to the successful referendum. Um we showed this to the to to the board and the public before. This is just a highle summary of the nine uh projects included in the safer stronger program. uh our program. This is
089an eight-year capital program. And so this this represents investments that are going to be made in our facilities through 2032. Um this is designed to be the the primary or sole source of capital funding for our for our buildings. Um and again, just just want to reiterate, we've got 420 million of the safer, stronger uh referendum bonds that was approved by our voters. total project budget of 466 million represent some other capital funds that are that are kind of uh come come in lock step with those bond funds. The primary sources of those are bond interest earnings as well as bond premiums earned. Uh those have the same restrictions as the the uh initial bond funds as well. And so that's why those are restricted for capital and use in the capital program as opposed
090to maybe being transferred to operations or used elsewhere. Um, so to date, uh, I I'm proud to report that our projects are on time and are coming in at or below budget. Uh, I, uh, thank the board for all the, uh, the approvals and and things we've action items we've put forward to the to the board for the past several months. At this time, we've got, um, uh, we may have a few approvals still coming, but for the most part, we've got our work through through this summer and into next fall and even next spring approved. And so we feel really good that that we're able to to say we are on time and again coming in at or below budget. Um as a reminder from our presentation in September, all budgets do do contain
091some contingency uh contingency that's at or above what's being recommended by our um architects, engineers, and construction teams. Um so as projects are completed at budget, we hope that's going to allow that contingency to be released and available to to address other priorities throughout the district. a reminder that that one of our priorities with our capital investment was to decrease long-term operating expenses and to make our buildings and uh programs more efficient. So, we are still projecting a 2 to3 million annual savings starting in the 2728 year. And then uh a final reminder that all of this is also available at ipsd.org/saferstrong 204. And we have started our semianual report reporting process with the next one coming in the spring. Again, the cadence of that was sort of tied to be in the fall so
092that we could report on the summer construction season when we're at our busiest and then also come in the the spring as we kind of are gearing up for that um construction season, have have some bids, have some additional architecture work to show as part of that report. Um so just shown here is sort of how that that safer stronger 204 looks over the next uh over the next eight years through that 20 November 2032 date. Um, I'll point out one of the one of the things that um, again, if we were to compare where we were a year ago, that's maybe a little counterintuitive is we've actually increased the amount of spend in fiscal year 27 and 28. And so I say we're at or below budget, but we're actually spending a little bit
093more than we initially anticipated. And that's really really kind of a positive feedback loop or or a positive um uh a positive result is by coming one one of the things we've prioritized is trying to accelerate work where possible. That's allowed us to to um reduce sort of some of the cost uncertainty, some of the the inflation or rising costs associated with the budget. So by spending it earlier, we actually save money. Again, it it looks odd when you see some sort of the the larger dollar amounts coming forward, but uh that's actually been a to really accelerate the work from a cost savings perspective. Um obviously, it also has the benefit of getting the work done earlier and getting those benefits in front of our our students and community earlier as well. Um so
094this is then the updated forecast for our local capital. So again, much smaller dollars. Uh this includes the $12 billion of technology transfer and again our our plan for spending those dollars over the next uh three years. And then otherwise we are looking to just hold those those dollars, continue to add on them through developer fees and interest and really save those dollars to be impactful after the referendum in uh ends in November of 2032. And so right now we're projecting just short of $26 million to be available after the referendum dollars are are needing to be spent in no um again in November of 2032. U the related debt service here just showing it with a with a five-year window shows shows a debt service schedule. Um again we're uh we're in line with
095our commitment to our community for a bond and interest tax rate at or below 37 cents. Uh this this uh schedule includes both current issues. So we've issued two of our four plan but also shows uh anticipated schedules from our future issues. The next bond issue we are planning to do is in June of 2027. And then finally, when you when you put those together, this really gets to the challenge that we continue to be mindful of, we continue to manage and we continue to manage towards, and that's how are we going to maximize the impact of capital dollars that could only be spent through 2032, knowing that that realistically the bonds tied to that will have will have repayments past that 2032 date. And so part of that is is saving those those other
096capital dollars and allowing them to grow. Um, some of that is is just really working through and being being uh mindful of the repayment structure of those bonds so that we can lower the repayment schedule. That's partially why we were so uh excited when we received because ultimately that means a lower interest rate and the ability to repay those bonds faster. And then the final piece uh I'll make a connection here to something we talked about a year or so ago which was the vision 2030 document. Um, this was a a statewide um document we were we were asked to to adopt by the Illinois Association of School Boards and and Association of School Administrators which talked about the need for capital funding to come out at the state level. And this really talks to
097that need that even though we've we've passed a referendum and we have significant capital dollars in the short term, um there's still going to be a need in the future for capital dollars and we really do need um to continue to explore at a state level how districts across the state can access a consistent source of capital funding. And so with that, I'm coming in at about 50 minutes, which is a little longer than I thought I'd be. Uh but uh do want to just just cover that our next steps will be to continue to update the board of education as needed. Uh we do expect to be in front within in front of you with an academic ROI proposal in the next month and then a preliminary budget presentation in May. Um in June
098will be our next uh update spec uh exclusively on the safer stronger 204 campaign and we're going to be excited to present our plans for Hill Middle School. uh our our architecture team has has been hard at work with that over for a couple months now. Started to have some really good uh discussions with the school leadership team there and so um you know I think I I don't want to get ahead of myself but I think we're going to be pretty excited to for that night in June too. So um make sure to mark that one on your calendars. And then uh finally we will continue to update the community uh again at ipst.orgsaferstrong 204 and with our semiannual capital reports. And so with that, I am available for any questions. >> Okay. Thank
099you. Let's start with Miss Dumming. >> Thank you. Um, I first have to apologize to my seatmate as you were going through one of the slides. Just hitting me on uh some of the challenges that we have and and my seatmate got a little board member Karubis got a little concerned as I was uh just thinking about that. So, um I apologize board member Karubis. I'm okay. Um, let's see. >> There's an open seat, Justin. [laughter] >> No, no, he was concerned. No, he was concerned. It's It's all good. It's all good. Um, I had so many things here. Let's go to um let's go to first uh gosh, our fund ideal fund balance um is 25 and as of right now, we're at 34.4. Can you just share just from a for the public
100and remind me for my edification what does that mean for us um from from that differential standpoint >> and I don't have the slide that you >> all it's all the way in the front so uh >> so our our board our board policy is to have a fund balance of revenues uh of at least 25%. Uh so we are a little above that. That's lower than where we we've been uh last year and it's lower primarily because of the transfer we made uh to capital uh to pay for some tech uh specific technology needs. Uh the the fun the fund balance represents um reserves that the district holds. You could hear hear someone call them rainy day funds or or uh cash on hand. Um the reason that that 25% is sort of that
101that limit and why um that makes is really based on a specific calculation look that is unique to Indian Prairie and looking at when we receive our revenues and when we pay our expenses and one of the challenges we have again this goes to being a very a district that's very dependent on property taxes is we received that first property tax installment on about June 15. So even though at at June 30th we're at 34%. If you go back to to to June 1st or or May 22nd or or May 15th, that number is going to be a lot lower. And so the 25% sort of represents the minimum we need to be at June 30th in order to ensure there's not a point in time prior to that where um we run out of
102money or or have challenges um fulfilling our responsibilities to towards our expenditures. Um so 25% is is I think a good number for Indian Prairie. I think it's it's appropriate to be the number set in board policy. Uh I I'll reiterate it's it's specific to Indian Prairie. It's specific to our cash flow needs. It's specific to the the accounting policies and practices we have. There are districts that maybe measure that property tax payment a little differently and and as a result, their target may look different than ours. Uh but but from from my perspective, and I think from the board's perspective, the the 25% is is the right target. Um we we want to stay at or above that that 25%. And that was always something that was that ever since I've come on the
103board that um that recognition because you don't you have no idea but that recognition of the potential for us to have that lapse is something that um you and your predecessor have been really good about helping us to um helping us to understand. So thank you for that. Um slide eight. as we talked and looked at um property um property tax uh historical and projected. Can you share again um just from a standpoint as we look at that property tax that revenue increasing the um but that percentage that percent I'm sorry the share I know this isn't exactly it but can you share why we are seeing the um burden I it's on another slide that burden um increase over to homeowners versus that commercial side and I'm not sure if you're able to even
104answer it but once we begin to see well answer that question first and then I'll come to second question. >> Sure. So, we've um on the shift. So, again, we've we've seen significant EAV growth in the district over the past three or four years. And if you just look at that topline number, um it it looks like there's again 10 12% EAV growth throughout the district. But that's that's kind of the the just the high level number the the onepage report uh you know that kind of gets reported when you start looking at the details of what's making up that growth you see that a that substantially all that growth is coming from the residential side. So it's residents it's it's it's homeowners whose properties are going up by you know 8 10 12% a
105year over the last two or three years. If you look at our commercial values, they're they're staying um much more level. Um and that also includes the fact that the Fox Valley commercial areas is under a tiff. So that's not growing at all. So all that all that means is that as those as as the properties over here the residential properties are growing and the property the commercial properties are are staying flat that that's going to naturally shift the property tax burden over to th those residents or those increasing properties. Um so so this is not this is this this concept or the ability for the burden to shift is not um new. It's something that I think um we've always kind of talked about how when um because we don't have a set rate
106because the rate changes every year. That's sort of always been part of the calculation with property taxes. Um but in the past we've talked about it like maybe a resident to a resident. Maybe a maybe the the town homes are increasing at a different rate than than the um you know than a single family house. Maybe a >> uh wills increasing at a different rate than DuPage. Um you know things like that. I think uh the last several years this has been um maybe the the first time or or may pronounce that it's been by property class where we've seen those shifts. >> Are other is this common through is is that is that common throughout our state or >> it it's definitely impacting other parts of the state. I will say it's it's actually
107impacting some areas more. um specifically Cook counties se sees this at a higher level and that has to do uh if we really want to go into the weeds that goes into some of the equalization factor and some of the challenges specific to Cook. Uh but but yeah that this u Cook County also puts everybody on a little bit different um uh cycle as far as doing the the comprehensive review of EAV. So, we've actually again it's it's a real issue here in in Dup Page and Will County and it's a real issue for our district, but if anything it's it's a lower impact than maybe you're seeing in Cook County right now. >> Okay. um slide 11 where we talked about the I where we begin to talk about the I88 corridor and I
108know you indicated that um conversations with Neapville um there there seemed to be such a large amount of property also near that I8 I 888 corridor on the Aurora side any are they looking at doing any continued expansion >> that we might be able to see >> the the largest commercial development um in Aurora right now is that Cyrus one data center. I I don't know if that would be considered part of the corridor that's on deal and Eola. Um so so it is kind of along 88. Uh but but not aware of any other um significant discussions with Aurora at this time. Um they're um they're they're focused a little bit further west on their new casino that is not part of our district unfortunately. Um although that is Tiff. So, so that'll probably
109limit some of the the um ability for the I believe that's actually in Betavia uh school district. So, so yeah, they they they've got their focus on on that development and then then a few other areas of town. We've um other than the data center, we're not aware of significant Aurora development at this time. Um hold for me right here. the I do like the AROI um conversation that you had and I don't know whether this truly makes makes sense, but I almost think of the Sims um our Sims edition kind of falling into one of those areas where you know trying to see the real that all of a sudden you see value and and how that educational um investment really has impact on so many different areas. So, um really interested to see
110the potential there and as those conversations continue. So, um we'll be very very interested. So, thanks for continuing to to look at that and see whether that's something that might uh be advantageous for us to look at valuation for for the district. So, um those are my questions. >> Miss Gent. Well, I'm definitely going to do my part here to keep things shorter and just mostly say thank you for the comprehensive presentation and also especially on slide 12 with the whole explanation of block 59. I think for everybody um both on the board and the community to understand as we're seeing all of these commercial properties come pop up, which is absolutely wonderful. understanding it's not going to have an immediate impact. So I I want to thank you for that great explanation for all
111of that. And I like board member Deming am very excited to hear more about the academic return on investment. >> Thank you. >> And that's it. I'm going that's all I'm going to say on this, >> Mr. Kurubis. Okay. Um page five, slide five. looking at the operation and maintenance um budget. Um something I've been thinking about and talking about for a long time is the fact that we're always seem to be in a deficit with uh maintaining our buildings and this gets back to um we're borrowing from our buildings at some extent. And so although we're spending significant amount 28 in the in the operations and maintenance budget, you can see that the revenue from that is 18. So we're running a $10 million deficit in that. Um and we're still not spending enough
112and to to cover I think the maintenance on a yearly basis. So, uh, you know, our school facilities audit, um, there was one some when I initially got on the board, uh, and it said that we needed to be spending like 21, I think, and that was like 10 years ago. Um, and there were some years where we spent six. So, we had some very challenging years. So, I'm glad that we're getting up to this number. But I think if we were to rerun it and we might have done it when we were doing the the bond referendum and I just forget the exact number but I know that we're not spending enough on a yearly basis to fully maintain our building. So there's a deficit in the operation and maintenance and that that's separate
113and apart from the capital out base. So that's one of the problems I see comments on that. >> Sure. We've uh I think looking at you know you of course you you chose one of the slides at the beginning of the presentation and of course I want to go to one of the slides on the left at the end of the presentation but >> uh yeah ju just shown here's the snapshot of what we're doing out of the operations uh side of the house for capital and you're right we are uh you'll see there's a zero for capital outlay and operations and maintenance. So, we have shifted all of that capital work into the safer stronger 204 uh program. Uh so, so that is an intentional decision to to really support the buildings through the
114the capital program. Uh the capital program does include $40 million for general infrastructure. So, in addition to some of the uh the sort of higher profile uh projects we're we're doing as part of that, we are using the th those funds to also do our roofs and boilers and um mechanical systems and things that maybe we're not uh not taking as many uh shiny pictures of, but but we are are doing that work. Uh we're just doing out of the capital side. uh where I think your your comment really speaks to is is sort of where I where I ended with sort of that post 2032 look um and and that need to to ensure that we are positioning ourselves to continue that routine. Um, again, not not exciting, not uh, you know, not um,
115you know, not not necessarily viewed as as additive sort of capital work post 2032, but to ensure that we have a continuing source. And whether that's bringing it back into the operating side of the house in in this budget year, uh, or or whether that's finding a way to continue that work on the capital side, um, that that is something we're going to need to to to discuss, uh, um, post 2032. something our team is is focused on. And again, even even thinking about today about how we can can structure the bonds to to potentially make that possible, how we can uh make every last capital dollar last and and be put to use in a way that's as valuable as possible to speak to that need. Um, you know, the final thing I'll say,
116we are running the the the specific budget here down um with a significant deficit this year. Uh that that again was intentional. we we will shift additional property tax revenues into operations and maintenance next year to ensure that that's um that's balanced, but that's really just trying to get the the the fund balance number for that specific fund more in line with with several of the others. >> Okay. And then uh slide eight, this kind of shows our uh local contribution uh for each student. And I get there by on the 2026 number looking at the three 352 million and then looking at the 2025 number of 339 million. Um, and that's about uh 13 million dollar difference. Uh, divide that by the number of our students, that's about a $500 uh dollar contribution uh
117to each of our students. So, our local uh revenue, our residents and commercial are contributing $500 to each student just on that one year additional dollars. Moving to slide 16. Doing the same thing with the state contribution. 2026 of 43 minus 2025 of gets you to that five half a million dollars that 500,000 divided by our student population means the state of Illinois is contributing $20 for each of our students and additional funds. So you can see the difference of how our local revenue sources are helping our students comm community education community further and the state is not. Um, so I think uh we're always going to be in tier 204. It's not going to change. Uh, so I I think the state level of contribution um is not really designed to help our district.
118Uh I think the educationbased funding model is failing our district. Uh, I think it goes it goes further and further that we're going to get to the point where they're going to continue to impose mandates and additional costs on us that aren't going to justify, you know, the revenue that they're giving us. So, they're going to give us a cost of $50 per student and give us revenue of $20, which will which will further burden the local residents because they need to make up for that additional services that they're forcing us to provide. And then moving to slide 35. Takes me a while to get there longer than you do, I think. So, looking at this, we have the 2023 problem, 2033, um, where we're going to lose funds for capital outlays. And this goes
119back to kind of advocating for the buildings. Uh, and it makes me think of trying to plan ahead so we're not having to um, be like 203 and struggle with making service cuts for the next year. So, we can plan out the 2033 now because we see it coming. Um, and we've talked about maybe state advocacy as being one of the tools. Um, I think we need to look into uh the penny tax, which is the sales tax that is offered um authorized by the states where we can um get an additional sales tax at the county level. A majority of the schools of the counties have it. They're mainly rural and downstate. because a lot of the school districts are one county, so it's fairly easy to get. Um, in order to pass it,
120you and you need a majority of the school districts in that district to authorize it to be on the referendum and then the voters need to approve it or disapprove it. There's about 130,000 students in DuPage County. So, we would need to get districts representing about 65,000. We represent 26,000. They're not all in Dwage County, but that's a significant number. 203, which has a need for revenue, also rep also represents 16,000. Um, Weaten 2000 represents 11,000. Uh I think it's a tier three district. Um >> that's correct. >> So I think there's a way where we could come together for advocacy locally um broaden our local to not just our um community but the communities around us. Sales taxes is is good um in the in the because it's it could be paid by non-residents.
121um people living outside DuPage County might pay it. Uh it's bad because it's regressive. So there's pros and cons to to any tax. Um it's good because it can only be used for school facilities. So this would be an amount that would cover some of this 2020 2033 problem um and allow us to spend additional on a capital outlays on a year-toyear basis and take that off the burden of our um regular um annual budget. Uh, so I'm I'm very thankful that we passed the referendum, but we still have needs and we still have a future problem we need to plan for. Uh, so this penny tax is one of the ways that we can go about doing it. And I looked at what 1% of the sales tax would be in DuPage County, and
122that's $200 million approximately. and divide that by all the students in DuPage County and divide that by the number of students that we have, that would be about $1,500 per student of additional revenue on a yearly basis that we could use for our buildings. Um, these are all numbers made up by a volunteer school board member that's not, you know, an student uh school administrative officer. Um, so they're all kind of directionally right but not fully accurate. Um, so I it's long-term. It's not something that we do right away. Um, we would need to do it in partnership with other districts. I think we have good relationships um with those districts. Uh, and we can explore it. Um, but to you would need to get 10 districts on board, which would be, you know, 50
123school board members to vote for it. And then there would be the advocacy at the the county level. So it's it's a it's a big ask, but there's potential there that might be more fruitful than the advocacy at the state level. What are your thoughts on my 10-minute speech? Uh I I do want to go back to something uh um you you mentioned that that kind of um reminded me of of of a presentation or or a point I made a few years ago with evidence-based funding and that's uh when you talked about the $500 per student coming from local compared to about $20 from state. Um I I think that's a a very powerful way to look at it. Uh and and one of the things I'll I'll point out that that kind of
124coincides with that is when we started our evidence-based funding journey in 2018, uh our district was 78% funded and now we're 84. And so I think it is easy for somebody at a at a state level or somebody to look at that high level number and say, "Well, well, Indian Prairie is making progress. You're going from 78 to 84." What's missing and what is what I think board member Kubish just pointed out that our growth has not been because of additional state dollars. It's been because we're putting additional b additional um burden additional student expense on our property taxpayers at a higher rate than the state um than the state. And so to the extent we are seeing progress again in in tier 204 to the extent we've we've seen progress it's it's been locally
125driven. It's not been because of additional state dollars. And so I do think uh by looking at that that number per student. I think that really drove home that that concept to me. Uh and so that that's something that I think uh from an advocacy standpoint we should be be relay relaying too. even um because again I think some of the push back we hear at a state level is well you're going 84 is not bad you're you start at 78 but we're not making that that improvement because of any additional state funding. Uh the sales tax I think uh I think your numbers were are are generally in line with what I've seen. Um so so pretty good work for for some amateur schoolboard uh calculations. Uh I I'll ju I I guess I'll
126I'll two or three uh things to point out. I think first first mechanically as a district that's about 6040 DUP page will we have the opportunity for a sales tax in DUP page. We have an opportunity for it in will um those would be separate um uh uh ballots or separate processes if you will. Um, our DUP page county students would count towards getting above that 50% in DuPage. Our Will County students would would count toward towards a Will County um effort as well. Obviously, we'd be working with the different partnership of districts. You mentioned several of the DUP page ones. Um, the major districts in in Will County you'd be working with to do that would include Planefield, um the Joliet area, um the the New Lennox uh Frankfurt area, the Lincoln Ways, and
127some of those feeders county goes all the way to the state of Illino or state of Indiana border. So, it also includes some um some other districts that are a little more rural and a little bit more districts you would think about as actually being a little bit more um um like a south suburb if you will. Um so those are both two um two those will be two separate opportunities working with with both um counties and then we if we if successful the money we receive uh although it's based on the number of students from each county they can be used at any facility in the district. So if it passes in DUP page for example and there's a need at at a Will County school you you can move those funds between the
128between the counties. So, just to um provide a little bit more uh perspective on on some of the mechanics of that, uh I I I would point out that uh board member Kubis, you're you're correct. It's about 50% of the counties have it have this. Um but none of the collar counties do. None of the collard counties have tried putting it on a ballot. So, either if it if the effort was made in either DuPage or Will, it would be uh at this point that would be considered a little unprecedented. Uh but there are counties that have it on the ballot in this March. Um including Wnebago County, I believe. Um so we'll we'll see if um it is it is something that that gets talked about and and is potentially um gaining a little
129bit of traction in some of the larger districts in in the state. Uh I think one one of the challenges I think about when I think about those DUP page districts is um you know a lot of the the districts you mentioned DuPage including us have had successful bond referendums in the past um four or five years but it's like the cycles haven't quite lined up. So like um you know we we passed a referendum in 2024 the same year that um weeden did. we were a few years after Downer's Grove, which is a few years after Elmherst, and now you mentioned um district 203 potentially um looking at needing some some stability on the operating side and potentially, you know, using capital dollars to do that. So, it's like it's like everybody's always a
130couple years off on the timing. And so, maybe it is something where it needs to be a four to six or eight year process to really say, okay, what can we all do to align our capital schedules so that instead of going out for separate bond referendums kind of across the county, um we kind of all do it at once. Uh so I think uh again just some of my initial thoughts based on uh based on that but uh the the vision 2030 document did did envision a statewide um uh sales tax of 1% uh similar to what's in Iowa but uh you are correct current the current legislation and current state statute allows it to be done on a county county county level also does not have to be the full 1% it can
131be a half a percent I think it could be in any increment of uh 25.25 up to the the full 1%. Lastly, slide 20. I I'm a big fan of the Alii colors, especially as it relates to Michigan, but in my house, I I also married a Neapville North girl. So, I'm seeing these as Neapville North colors as well. So, I think next time I think we got to go a little more 204 colors. >> Uh the the blues in the charts are our approved blues for the record. Those are those are the those are the same shades as So there is there is plenty of Indian Prairie Blue on there uh as well. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Okay. >> You were right. That is unfortunate that neighborhood has basic. >> All right. I
132just have one qu comment and one question. Um my question first is are there any mechanisms currently in place to limit the growth of the cost of special education transportation? >> Uh I think it's it's I I think the uh the growth of of the variety of special education services that we have in our district continues to be a challenge. It's something we are looking at. I think uh I think there is a definite statewide potentially national trend on the uh uh seeing growth in in needs in those services. I think as a district being a a a destination district for some of those services also provides >> um it is part of that growth. So uh it is it is something that uh I I I do I I think as administration we see
133the same things the board sees and it and it feels like every year we're coming back talking about these expenditures growing faster than other areas of the budget faster than inflation but um that is that is tied to to um to increased needs and and needs we we are seeing seeing from our students >> Dr. looks like he may >> more support statewide for that with increased advocacy. >> I think it's it's um hard to say with regards to financial support either from the federal government through IDA or from the state. With regards to that, um Mr. Shipley did say the word that I was going to say we are destination district for a number of things, special education services being one of them. Um and it is a a plus for us in the
134sense of what we do in support of students who receive special ed services. Um but it is also um it creates u more issues in the sense of additional classrooms that we have to have additional staffing and services that we provide. So um I I I do not see necessarily that number going down. The last thing I will say, I do believe that Dr. Ido is looking at this very carefully and examining how we can run our program as effectively and efficiently as possible. >> Well, you've led me nicely into my comment then, which is I feel like some of Mr. Shib's hallmarks are um being balanced and being efficient, increasing our efficiencies. So, thank you for continuing to do that. Um, and I think it sounds like based on the teaser of the proposal,
135the academic ROI, that that will be an additional way to increase our efficiencies and really get a feel for how we're serving our students best. So, thank you for that. >> I'll just add um it was last week, week before last actually, Dr. Igo, Dr. uh Lewis Lee and I were attending a conference and part of it was looking at special education, looking at um the staffing this the services and so uh we will continue to look and apply some of the learnings from those conferences. >> Okay. Well, thank you. Um I wanted to go back to slide 11. >> Did we hear from Natasha? Oh, Natasha said she has >> she gave me the signal. [laughter] >> Thank you. >> Okay, that's good for checking. It's good. Um, slide 11. So, uh, we get
136this question a lot when, and I know I gave it to you, too, in the past week when, uh, the Neighborville Sun or somebody um shows a new development or whatever. um we we had a very comprehensive study um and that was taken into account our projections for buildings and everything. So when you look at what you see in front of you, are you seeing anything new that was not something that we projected or that causes us concerns? >> On the residential side, we were uh we've had collaborative discussions with all with with both cities on and anything that's shown as the residential. Um they are uh our student generations uh materially in line with what we used during our last boundary study. Uh we we continue to to follow that that closely. Uh and
137so I I don't see anything that has um that has any particular concern from a student generation standpoint. Um you know I I think we're in a little different position as a district than we were um maybe maybe 10 years ago. uh we we have seen sort of our our enrollment come down slightly. We were um we've seen sort of the peak from student um growth coming out of our single families has kind of waned and so I do think that uh you know in total our enrollment is lower than than maybe it was uh eight or 10 years ago. We're also well aware that um uh just student generation just just birth um you know births nationwide and across the state can continue to to kind of um decline. they they dropped uh the
138first year during COVID and haven't really recovered. And so uh I I don't know that we're in a in a position uh where we have as many concerns about capacity and and being able to serve students as as maybe we have in the past. Um with that said, again, we still evaluate each each project. We still make sure that it uh that we can serve those students. We still, you know, make sure that the um it's going to generate adequate property taxes to to support the students it generates. Uh we still push our uh we still push both uh cities and and uh to develop commercially where possible. We look for um to the extent residentials uh necessary. we we want to make sure that that's done in a way that supports commercial and enables
139future commercial growth as opposed to potentially displacing uh commercial growth. And so th those are all uh discussions we're having um pretty much on a regular basis with with both cities. >> Yeah, thank you. Because this topic comes up a lot and I want to um share that we are continually monitoring that. We did a very comprehensive study of projections of property in the area and also um student generation of different housing types that you continue to test and make sure that it's in con it is consistent with what we had been projecting through our studies and nothing has become some kind of like all of a sudden one-bedroom apartments generate lots more students or whatever. So yeah, um let's go to slide 17 there too. Okay, I just want to repeat this because for
140me it was a very striking data point. the chart on the right about the average property value, the EAV of 203 versus 204 and 203 is at 372,000 average property value and ours is 272. uh 30% difference in property values and I think a lot of people find that shocking and um I want to keep repeating that kind of information for for everyone. Okay, let's go to slide 21. Okay. So, you talked about the MCAT and how the objective is to fund 80%. So, what percent are we at >> with this uh with this year with this pration number on uh specific on this uh on the the private facility tuition we are closer to about 40%. I could get that. I could get the uh what the what the statewide peration was or what
141was published but just my kind of rough estimates about 40%. >> Right. So, we're at 40%. And then if you go to the next slide, this one to me was important is there's several charts that you have that shows like CPI and what the um CPI is every year. And then it shows you um evidence-based funding which is not keeping up with the CPI and also MCAT on top of that is not funded at 80% but 40% and our costs in that category are growing. But this chart also shows you that that separation continues to grow. And so when you're talking about shifting burden to local resources, it is um not only like the commercial property versus residential, but also a chart like this that shows you the difference in what we're receiving at the
142state level, which is 14% of our budget um versus the cost that we are incurring. Um and then on top of that is unfunded um mandates that come through the state which we always try and object to. Um so it's a continued uh struggle looking at our um [snorts] our revenue that we're getting and where we have to have that come from. And I did like the $20 versus 500. That was a really clear kind of explanation of what we're seeing. Um I did everyone I think expressed an interest in the um AOI. I think that that's an interesting um discussion and concept that would be um welcomed and I think it it's a challenging um thing to do though where you kind of try to understand how something like a tool or a piece
143of software helps a student evolve from A to B because there's so many different things impacting that student. So I'm kind of curious about what that would look like. But um you know you and I had a good discussion this week and um I expressed a great interest in that. So I think that's that's helpful. Um the in the media they were talking about possibility of a social media attack social or um um and that that would be directed at schools. Have you heard anything about that or what that might look like or >> uh I've I've not uh so I'm looking I I I offand is that something at the state level? Do you know or something? >> Pritskar. Yeah. Do you do you know anything about that? >> No, I I haven't I
144haven't. So um until we see anything, I don't think we really can speak about it. >> Okay. I was getting kind of a little bit excited that we might have some something that goes on here. Um, also on the um sales tax that was discussed previously, uh, remind me like didn't we have a discussion about that I think with Will County at some point like several years ago and it came very close to >> Yes. of of the two counties, Will County has come the closest. Uh, it we did uh this Indian Prairie's Board of Education did approve a resolution that would that would put it in the bot on the ballot. Uh I want I would guess that was 2018 or 2019. Uh but ultimately it it fell short. There was there were a
145few districts that uh uh we were hoping would support it that ultimately didn't support it. >> It fell short from being on the ballot >> from being on the ballot. Yes. >> That it got on the ballot and then fell short. >> Correct. So So two two steps. Step one is getting it on the ballot fell short of there. Step two would be once it's on the ballot, it would take 50% of the the voters um voting in in that election, too. >> Yeah. I mean, I think it's something that we should pursue and look at again in both counties and um it might be something that helps address. I know when we looked at block 59, there was a lot of concern about the 1% sales tax that was uh given to that development.
146um not given but will be charged to support that development. And when they did studies like the vast vast majority of people that visit those restaurants and things are not from our area. So it's like a even though it's a um you know a tax burden on maybe the wrong set of people um economically it isn't hitting our local population as much as as >> Yeah. And with the state, you know, again, one, as board member Kubis mentioned, a lot of the counties that that enacted it uh initially were were sort of one or two district rural counties, and that made it sort of an appealing uh appealing solution relative to a property tax referendum. Also, I think all our college big college towns passed it with maybe the exception to Calb. So, um, you
147know, Champagne Orbana, um, you know, where where the University of Illinois is located, uh, you know, they know that they're getting a lot of out of out of, uh, county people, including myself, come down there and pay that that tax. So, uh, so that's sort of, you know, that was part of the appeal. I think one of the things that's really interesting working with municipalities is again the amount of data they're now receiving on, um, you know, who buys what and goes to what stores. it it would be very it would be relatively easy or at least easier than it maybe was five or 10 years ago to really be able to dial in what would that impact be to a dupage resident versus a um an out of county resident or what would that
148impact of a sales tax be versus a property tax revenue. So it it is something that if there's uh um if there's an appetite for it at a at a county level I think I think that the data would would support or be able to show show some of that. Well, that's it. I know it's challenging. I mean, we have um the CPI co having costs go up and other things causing costs and expenses. And so, we have 80% of our expenses are associated with our staff. And so, we have to look for ways to to make this work. And I appreciate all the effort that you put into looking for solutions here. So, thank you so much. Thank you. >> Okay, last item is legislative advocacy [clears throat] and board board of education update.
149>> President Dongh, the only thing that I wanted to u mention is that I had uh we are coming close to the time frame for us to submit a proposal for ISB in November and I sent out an email to everyone um heard back from um one board member in addition to you. So um I will share with everyone um it's along the lines of some of the things that um that I had shared already sort of around a particular topic. So um board member Grover sent over uh something that I think uh is would be very um that we might be able to sink our teeth around as far as uh maybe a topic. And so I'll share that and we'll go from there and look to pull something together and get it submitted
150uh hopefully the first weekend in March. The deadline again is March 15th. So share with everyone. >> Okay. Anything else? I need a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> All in favor? >> Any oppose? Okay. I will