The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
At the West Central School Board meeting on September 24th, Superintendent Day reported that as of the 6th day of enrollment, there were 754 students enrolled in the district. The K-12 prediction for the 24-25 school year was 695, which does not include PreK students. The actual enrollment for K-12 is 705 students. West Central’s enrollment has leveled out over the last few years, but is 43% lower than it was at the time of consolidation in 2006.
Prior to this meeting a public hearing was held for FY25 budget. The meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. and with no comments or questions regarding the budget, the meeting was adjourned at 5:32 p.m.
At 6 p.m. President Brendan Schaley called the meeting to order by leading the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance.
In good news items the board:
The board approved the consent agenda as follows:
The board discussed FOIA requests for the month from SmartProcure (vendor information and purchasing) and multiple requests from the Galesburg Reporter (current staffing, retirees, new staff, school calendar, extra-curricular activities and evacuation plans). All requests were responded to in the needed timeline, except for the evacuation plan request as that is exempt from FOIA requirements.
Superintendent Day provided an update on the lunch program and their eligibility for the Community Eligibility Program. That program would allow them to provide free breakfast and lunch to all students. West Central qualifies for the program, but does not have a high enough number of students who meet the requirement for participation in order to make financially responsible for the district to participate at this time. They currently have 41% of the students who are directly certified (TANF, SNAP, Medicaid, Homeless, etc), they need to be over 50% to consider and closer to 60% to receive the maximum reimbursement from the federal government It they were to participate at this time, they would lose between $5,000-8,000 a month in reimbursements.
Superintendent Day provided a quick demonstration of the new bus routing software. Transfinder, that the district is using to support the transportation needs. Currently they are running 10 daily in-district routes and 4 out of district routes. The program has helped adjust routes to balance out the number of students on a bus and attempt to lower the drive time of the routes.
The motion to approve the FY25 District Budget unanimously passed and included unaudited fund balances, effective July 1, 2024 of Education $7,711,809; O&M $1,894,941; Debt Service $80,697; Transportation $367,306; IMRF/Social Security $360,990; Capital Projects $48,695; Working Cash $1,108,587; Tort and Health Life Safety $958,004.
In other business the board:
The board entered executive session at 8:06 p.m. and returned to open session at 9:32 p.m.
The following personnel items were approved: