McLean County's largest school district isn't getting any bigger this year, but enrollment among its homeless population has increased measurably.
Unit 5 Superintendent Kristen Weikle said the district's overall head count is stable at about 12,300, but a growing number of those children lack permanent housing. The district is experiencing a near 10% increase in homeless students this school year.
Weikle said the district is working to provide services to students who don't have permanent housing. She said that can include access to transportation, immunizations and physicals.
“We try to work with the families to remove barriers, that would prevent them from getting to school and maximizing their time with their teachers or any support they need,” Weikle said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas.
Staffing needs
Weikle said classroom staffing levels are "decent" but a shortage remains in one key area.
“We are always looking for special education staff, whether it be special education teachers, school psychologists, social workers, speech language therapists,” she said.
Weikle said the district also needs teaching assistants to work primarily in special education.
According to Unit 5 spokesperson Dayna Brown, Unit 5 has 26 certified positions open, including 17 for special education, and 42 open positions for paraprofessionals (teacher aide).
She said the district is hosting a series of job fairs to fill some educator vacancies, including those for substitute teachers.
Budget
This marks the first school year in which the district will see additional revenue from the 2023 referendum which Weikle said will shore up the district’s education fund.
The school board approved a $222 million annual budget last week.
The district projects a $6.7 million surplus in that fund for the 2024-25 school year. She noted operations and maintenance fund is “tight,” projecting a $330,000 balance and the transportation fund is looking at a $1.8 million deficit this year.
Weikle said the transportation fund continues to struggle because the state is not providing full reimbursements for its bus routes.
"That’s different than reimbursing 100% of the cost I want to point out,” she explained. “Our general education routes were reimbursed at 81% last year, and our special education expenses for transportation were reimbursed at a rate of 71%.”
The district said, for now, it will not need to dip into cash reserves to pay for installation of portable classrooms at three of its elementary schools: Parkside, Towanda and Cedar Ridge.
Cell phone policy
Weikle said the district plans to get input from students, staff and families to determine if it will implement a cell phone ban. She said teachers set their own classroom rules, but a uniform phone policy might help.
“Some teachers might be a little more lax and say, ‘Yes, if you have your work done early, you can have it out.’ That makes it harder for the next teacher who says, ‘No, it needs to be put away the entire class period.’”
District 87 Superintendent David Mouser told WGLT last week their schools have no plans to consider a districtwide cell phone ban, though students at Bloomington Junior High are required to keep their phones in their locker.
