Sterling approves state grant application with confusing title

STERLING — When is a Consolidated District Plan not about the consolidation of Sterling Public Schools with another district?

Answer: When “consolidated” is the name given by the Illinois State Board of Education to its unified grant application process.

In fact, Superintendent Tad Everett commended alert community members.

“If you are wondering whether people read the agenda, well, I had callers ask if we were consolidating with another school,” he told the board of education during its May meeting on Wednesday in the high school library.

Timothy Schwingle, district director of finance, also prefaced his presentation with an explanation about the confusing title.

Essentially, the Consolidated District Plan is the state’s way of consolidating the information required for state and federal grants that the district files by using the ISBE Web Application Security system.

By voting to approve — which the board did unanimously — the district can complete the grant application process. This includes the Title 1 plan previously approved by the board that provides supplemental reading and math support for elementary students and also provides for professional development of existing teaching staff.

The actual application was 24 pages long and was nearly identical to the application filed by the district in 2022.

Some of the grants address other needs: language instructional education, student support and academic enrichment, special education, and preschool.

The application also includes the district’s intentions for the COVID-19 recovery grants — Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds II and III — such as paying for substitute teaching staff and heat-air conditioning replacement.

Other business

The board conducted a public hearing on the amended budget for the 2021-22 school year, to which there was no community input. Later in the same meeting the board voted to approve it. The budget is amended at the end of the school year to reflect the receipt of grants during the course of the year that weren’t finalized when the budget was compiled. The revision shows additional revenues of $70.75 million with spending a little more than $59.67 million. The original budget had anticipated spending of $52.4 million and revenue of $53.91 million.

In a routine manner, the board approved transferring the interest earned from the Working Cash Fund be maintained as such and not added to the principal for the 2022-23 school year. The budget summary showed that to be about $2,000.

The board passed the resolution for the issue of general obligation bonds 2022A and taxable general obligation bonds 2022B. Sale of bonds took place on Wednesday. The bonds are being used to pay for renovations. The Washington Renovation project will begin Wednesday, June 1. Storage pods essential to the project were to be delivered no later than May 31. Asbestos abatement for the Sterling High School HVAC project was underway as was the removal of old piping.