Two more school boards have shown their support for settling the two-year-old dispute between the Byron School District and the Ogle County Educational Cooperative (OCEC).
Both the Polo and Oregon School Boards passed identical resolutions Monday night to rescind their opposition to Byron's petition to withdraw from the Special Education cooperative.
Both boards adopted the resolution unanimously and with little or no discussion.
"We do believe we are at settlement," Oregon Superintendent Tom Mahoney told his district's board members before they voted.
Monday night's action by the two boards leaves only one or two OCEC member districts to approve the resolution, OCEC Executive Director Mike Noble said Tuesday.
"We expect that the others will in the next month," Noble said. "They didn't get the resolution in time to put it on get it on February's agenda."
The resolution paves the way, he said, for drawing up a settlement to a dispute which began in January of 2009 when Byron school officials filed a petition with the Lee-Ogle Regional Board of Education stating the district's intention to withdraw from OCEC and implement its own Special Education program beginning in the fall of 2009.
OCEC is comprised of 13 school districts in Ogle and Lee Counties and provides Special Education and related services to students ages 3 to 22 who have been identified with special needs and reside in the member districts.
The OCEC Executive Board, which is made up of the superintendents of the member districts, opposed Byron's withdrawal, saying it would adversely affect the program and put a financial hardship in the remaining 12 member districts.
OCEC Executive Board Chairman Lowell Taylor, who is superintendent of the Forrestville Valley School District, said last week that the two sides were able to reach agreement on a settlement after several months of mediation and other talks.
The formal written agreement, he said, has not yet been completed.
Noble said the resolutions to rescind each board's opposition are necessary because the 12 district boards approved a resolution in 2009 to oppose Byron's withdrawal from OCEC.
He said that once the settlement agreement is ready, it will be reviewed by the OCEC Executive Board.
Final approval of the document will come from the OCEC Governing Board, whose members are school board members in the 13 school districts.
OCEC member districts include Amboy, Ashton-Franklin Center, Byron, Creston, Eswood, Forrestville Valley, Kings, Meridian, Oregon, Polo, Rochelle Elementary, Rochelle Township High School, and Steward Elementary.