The Unit 5 school district anticipates significant increases in local tax revenue for the 2026 fiscal year, but higher costs and a drop in state and federal funding still lead to a projected $3 million deficit.
Chief Financial Officer Marty Hickman presented an outline of the proposed $244.7 million budget during Wednesday's school board meeting.
Property tax revenue for 2026 is projected to rise $23.8 million [19%], from the previous fiscal year. An additional $9 million is projected to come from the school facility sales tax passed in April.
Increases come from a combination of equalized assessed variation [EAV] increases from previous years and changes to the education fund tax rate.
Local property taxes are the lifeblood of a school district — nearly 69% of Unit 5’s proposed budget revenue comes from property tax revenue.
But, Hickman noted in the presentation, the district will see an $11.7 million increase in staff salary and benefits, utility costs are expected to jump nearly 10% and transportation costs are expected to rise 4%.
Federal funding is expected to drop $3.1 million, or 22%, due to the end of federal pandemic relief funding.
Transportation revenue dropped about 8.1% from last year. Unit 5 continues to see an underwhelming amount of transportation funding from the state. Unit 5 did benefit from a $1.4 million grant from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], however. It allowed for the purchase of five electric school buses and chargers. A federal EPA grant brought in another $820,000.
Hickman said August is an important month for the budget. The Illinois Department of Revenue will release a Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax [CPPRT] estimate this month. An increase of about 2.1% in revenue compared with last year’s CPPRT is expected. Also, evidence-based funding is released by the Illinois State Board of Education.
Hickman said it is the most updated number a school district will have as it works to craft a budget. That revenue is expected to increase about 2.9% compared to last year.
Unit 5 has been reclassified as a Tier 2 school district, making it less of a priority for state education funding from the Illinois State Board of Education [SBE]. Hickman attributed that to Chicago Public Schools moving to Tier 1.
“It moved a lot of districts back out of Tier 1, then into Tier 2. And I would say, depending on Chicago, it's hard to forecast after this year if we'll be Tier 1 or Tier 2.”
While Unit 5 has only once been classified as a Tier 1 district, last year, most adequacy funding from the ISBE goes to Tier 1 and 2 schools.
Hickman also explained the unaudited results from the 2025 fiscal year. He said it shows where Unit 5 thinks it landed before the results of an ongoing audit are finalized. He added he does not anticipate any major differences between the unaudited and audited results.
The education fund is netting about $7.4 million, according to the unaudited results.
“The net change you see there is about $2 million higher than we had projected back in May,” said Hickman. The reason, he said, was that an expense that was expected to be paid out before the new fiscal year began was instead made after.
A public hearing regarding the tentative budget will be held next month, as well as board consideration of the tentative budget.
Superintendent contract
Also Wednesday, the Unit 5 school board approved a new five-year contract for Superintendent Kristen Weikle.
The contract runs from July 2025 until June 2030. While the first year’s pay will be $237,000, making the minimum value of the entire contract $1,185,000, it also allows for an incremental performance-based increase each year. A year-over year increase cannot not be more than 6%.
Weikle’s previous contract signed in 2023 started at a $206,000 base salary with similar possibilities for increases. The contract was signed to last until 2027. The district also will provide up to 20 vacation days per year, life insurance and retirement contributions, and a $4,500 travel stipend.
By the end of the contract, Weikle would be the second longest-tenured superintendent in Unit 5 history. George Evans stands as the longest-tenured at nearly 18 years [1967-85].
New sport proposals
A 2024-25 survey of more than 2,000 high school students showed a significant interest in Unit 5 sponsoring both girls flag football and boys volleyball — 44% percent of participants said they were interested in both respective sports being added as options.
Nik Kearfott, athletic director at Normal Community High School, and Wes Temples, athletic director at Normal West, proposed Unit 5 schools adding both sports at the high school level for the 2026-27 school year.
Flag football would be a fall sport. Seven teams make up the Big 12 conference as of 2025, including schools from Peoria, Danville and Champaign-Urbana. A schedule with a maximum of 25 games would entail visits to Class 4A host schools where multiple schools attend and teams play multiple opponents during the event.
The sport has been sanctioned by the Illinois High School Association [IHSA] since 2024.
Kearfott said the sport has led to positive outcomes for other schools in the Big 12.
“They were reaching demographics of kids that have never played a sport and don't play any other sanctioned IHSA sport at the school,” said Kearfott. “And then what they saw after the fall was those kids tried to go or did go out for other sports. So, they said it had a very positive impact on the school.”
Estimated costs for flag football include about $6,000 for equipment, $2,340 to pay officials and $13,644 to hire coaches.
Kearfott also said occasional flag football events on Friday nights may be possible leading into boys football games.
Boys volleyball would be a spring sport. While it has been IHSA-sanctioned since 1992, it sees less participation from Big 12 schools. The season would be up to 35 matches, with scheduling similar to lacrosse. While many visits to St. Louis suburbs are anticipated for flag football, boys volleyball schedules would more heavily revolve around the Chicago area.
Estimated costs include about $4,000 for equipment, $3,000 for officials and entry fees and the same spending on coaches as girls volleyball.
Women’s flag football is sponsored by the NCAA. Illinois Wesleyan University is adding a team for 2026.
