District 87 Superintendent David Mouser gave updates on many important topics during an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas.
Facilities work
District 87 has continued to work on facilities needs after the County Facilities Sales Tax [CFST] was approved by voters in April. A third of the revenue District 87 receives from the sales tax will be used to pay for those needs. The tax was approved with the incentive of offsetting property taxes, which school districts had before been more reliant on to pay for the needs covered by the CSFT.
Revenue for the tax began being collected in July, but distribution from the Regional Office of Education [ROE] is not expected until October. That will also be when school districts start to learn the true amount of dollars the tax will bring in, rather than estimates based on prior data.
“What we said in April was that regardless we were going to abate $2 million, and we stand by that figure,” said Mouser. “So that's going to be built into our levy to be able to help with our bond and interest percentage, to be able to knock that down and lower our tax rate.”
Mouser said a lot of work done at the new home for the Bloomington Career Academy [BCA] will be paid for using revenue from the CSFT. The BCA, when was then known as the Bloomington Area Career Center, was housed in Bloomington High School [BHS]. The vacant classrooms are undergoing renovations.
Taking its place will be a program for 18 to 22-year-old students in the BHS special education program to focus on transitioning to the workforce. Mouser gave an example of transitioning a classroom into a mock apartment to teach about how to live on your own. He added he would like to see the space utilized by students from other school districts in the area.
“You think about students that are that 18 to 22-year-old range in special ed, it's oftentimes difficult, particularly for rural districts, to be able to provide quality experiences," he said.
Student progress
District 87 continues to seek ways to improve its underwhelming graduation rate. Mouser said the district has had an increased focus on freshman students in an effort to keep them on track to graduate in four years.
“Freshman year is huge, because if kids fail core courses, it's tremendously difficult to get caught up,” said Mouser.
BHS has a dean of students for the freshmen class that is in charge of keeping tabs on student progress. Family facilitators and school counselors also help.
“Schools can't do it alone,” said Mouser. “We need our community to step up. We need community partners to step up. We need families to step up. We all have to do our part to be able to make sure that kids are progressing accordingly.”
Teacher retention
District 87 is doing “pretty well comparatively,” said Mouser, at retaining staff amid a nationwide teacher shortage.
Annual surveys from the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools have shown around nine of every 10 schools reporting a teacher shortage problem over the last two years. For the 2024-25 school year, more than 6,000 teaching positions in Illinois had been filled using retired or third-party sourced teachers or by modifying course offerings or format.
District 87’s focus is to hire to retire. The district has looked at state grants and offsetting costs to make it worthwhile for paraprofessionals and teacher’s aides to get certifications.
“And then ultimately, build up to be a teacher for us, and then hopefully stay with us and make it a career,” said Mouser.
Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan teaching programs both bring in student teachers that further help to bridge the gap.
“I think it is huge for us to be able to showcase our schools and our programs to kids that are down here, so that they get a chance to see how we operate,” said Mouser. “Because it becomes more appealing once you've been in the classrooms and you've met teachers and you've met administrators.”
Many student teachers are coming from elsewhere, however. Retention efforts can only go so far when working closer to home becomes an option, said Mouser.
Despite seeing less teacher turnover overall, Mouser said certain positions are still harder to fill.
“You look at school social workers, you look at special education, we always have needs for those teachers, and it's just an ongoing battle,” said Mouser.
Flag football
Mouser said discussions about adding girls flag football to BHS are ongoing.
Tony Bauman, athletic director, will conduct a survey to collect data to present to the school board.
“I'm a big believer that kids need connections in school to be successful,” said Mouser. “And so if there's another touch point we can provide for kids, we’ll likely end up doing that. My guess is there's going to be a lot of interest.”
Unit 5 added both girls flag football and boys volleyball for the 2026-27 school year. Mouser said he has not heard much of student interest in the latter, so only flag football will be considered at this time.
The Unit 5 survey that led to approval of the sport showed 44% of participants were interested in adding it to Normal Community and Normal West high school programs. It has been sanctioned by the Illinois High School Association since 2014.
