The Macoupin County Agriculture Education (MCAE) Foundation is offering six $1,000 scholarships for the upcoming 2026-27 school year to students wishing to pursue agriculture majors.

The MCAE Foundation offers scholarships to provide encouragement and financial assistance to Macoupin County residents and/or students of Macoupin County schools who display well-balanced attributes of good citizenship, commitment to activities and scholastic ability.

The applicant must be a graduating high school senior or a current college student who plans to attend or is attending an Illinois junior college, college, university or Career Technical Education (CTE) program, and majoring in agriculture.

Applications are available through your high school guidance counselor, high school agriculture instructor or the Macoupin County Farm Bureau® (MCFB®). An electronic copy of the application can be requested by contacting the MCFB® office by telephone or by email at: mcfb@gomadison.com or by visiting the county Farm Bureau website at www.macoupinfb.com.

All applications must be submitted to the MCFB® office by March 27, 2026.  Any questions can be directed to the MCFB® office at 217-854-2571.

Members of the Community Unit School District 7 Board of Education voted Monday night to commit the next round of Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) grant money to completion of the Plum Street renovation project, with the understanding the school district will not participate financially in future city street improvements and provided the City of Gillespie regrades a drainage ditch on LJ Avenue between the High School and football field, and corrects a drainage ditch between the football field and baseball field.

In other action, the board finalized the 2025 property tax levy for taxes to be collected in 2026, and welcomed two student representatives to the board.

The action followed a lengthy discussion about the role the school district should be expected to play in bringing Plum Street up to a level of repair to support school bus traffic.

The board previously committed about $89,000 in CEJA grant money to the project. With Monday night’s vote, the school district is committing about an additional $70,000 to completing the Plum Street project.

Plum Street has been a focus for the school district and city government since the district synchronized class start and end times at all three attendance centers. That change necessitated rerouting 10 buses onto to Plum Street in the morning and afternoon. City officials said the additional weight and traffic soon caused Plum Street to quickly deteriorate. The current project includes milling, repaving, drainage improvement and reinforcement of the road base to handle bus traffic.

The original engineers for the project were fired after it was discovered that the company allegedly had not filed proper paperwork with the Illinois Department of Transportation to secure approval to proceed with construction. The deficiency pushed construction to next spring at the earliest. Earlier this month, the new engineers came in with a new, more complete quote for the project that came in at $350,000—upward of $150,000 more than the city had anticipated.

Supt. Shane Owsley told the board he had spoken with Mayor Landon Pettit who suggested the new estimate could be more than the city could afford even with the $89,000 in CEJA money the school district had already committed.

“My No. 1 concern is the safety of students, as I’m sure it is with you,” Owsley said. He recommended committing the next round of CEJA grant money—about $70,000— to the project to ensure its completion before the 2026-27 school year with the provision the school could use the street for bus traffic “in perpetuity.”

Owsley said city officials told him the city cannot complete the project without the participation of the school district or cutting significantly into funds destined for maintaining other streets in the city.

Board members Bill Carter and Dennis Tiburzi both expressed reservations about putting more money into the project, suggesting the school district should not be in the “business of building streets.”

“I don’t want to be here next month being asked for more money,” Tiburzi commented. “We’re the largest employer in the area and I’m sorry, but they (the city) need to take care of the roads. We all pay road taxes.”

“What happens if they (the city) run out of money?” Carter asked. “Or the street falls apart five years from now? This one rubs me a little wrong. I worry about what happens down the road.”

Board President Mark Hayes said the city is willing to commit equipment and manpower to clean ditches along LJ Avenue and between the football field and baseball field. Board member Weye Schmidt agreed that the city should take responsibility for drainage improvements to eliminate “the swamp” that backs up behind the school’s Vocational Building.

The motion to commit anticipated CEJA grant funding to the Plum Street project provided the school’s attorney drafts an intergovernmental agreement signed by both parties committing the city to finishing the project, correcting drainage issues on LJ Avenue and between the football and baseball fields, granting the school a right to use Plum Street for buses in perpetuity, and acknowledging the school will not participate financially in future street improvements.

“For the safety of our children, I think this is the best option,” Hayes noted.

TAX LEVY

The board voted unanimously to approve a proposed property tax levy request following a brief public hearing required by law because the request exceeds last year’s tax extension by more than 105 percent.

Though legally mandated, there were no members of the public and no questions or comments about the levy during the three-minute hearing.

Owsley, who presented a formal analysis of the levy proposal during the November board meeting, again pointed out that the $3,920,295 levy request for 2025 property taxes collectible in 2026 exceeds what the district actually expects to receive in property tax revenue. Because of tax caps and other factors, however, the district expects to collect only an estimated $3,786,607 of the requested amount. 

“We ask for more because we don’t know what our equalized assessed valuation will be,” Owsley noted. In calculating the levy, Owsley estimated an increase of 15 percent in the EAV even though the average increase over the past ten years has been about 8.8 percent.

“The reason I increased the EAV as much as I did is because we have a number of solar fields coming online and if we don’t claim those increases now, we lose it forever, because we are subject to tax caps,” he said. The Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL), approved by Macoupin voters in 1995, limits the increase in the property taxes to no more than five percent or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is less. The current CPI is 2.9 percent, meaning the district can legally collect 102.9 percent of the previous year’s extension, plus any increases in the EAV and new construction.

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“I think it’s important to point out that we have the second lowest tax rate in the county,” Bernot noted, adding that the tax rate has fallen by about $1 in the past 10 years.

DISTRICT FOCUS

The board was introduced to Maddie Durston, a sophomore who will join Student Council President Emily Bergen, as student representatives on the Board of Education beginning in January. Durston is next in line to become Student Council President. Bergen was unable to attend Monday’s meeting due to a prior commitment.

Supt. Owsley told the board that during a recent educators conference in Chicago “one of the things we kept running into was student voices.”

“Obviously we hear from administrators and we hear from teachers,” Owsley noted. “Who we don’t hear from are the students themselves.” Current board policy permits the annual appointment of the Student Council President to serve as a student representative on the board. Student representatives can participate in board discussions but cannot cast a vote. They also are prohibited from joining executive sessions.

“When we want to see what students views are on any particular subject, we’ll have a student right here to tell us,” Owsley said.

High School Principal Jill Rosentreter had high praise for both Bergen and Durston.

“I’m super excited to recommend Emily and Maddie,” she said. “They’re going to represent the student body very well. They’re both very well spoken. They’re both very excited to share ideas and take part in discussions.”

“I’ve been to some board meetings, and I enjoyed sitting over there and hearing things,” Durston noted. “To be on this side of the table and be a part of things is really exciting.”

PERSONNEL

Following an executive session of 35 minutes, the board voted in separate actions, to accept the resignation of Terrie Rhodes as a special education bus aide and to hire Rhodes as a full-route bus driver.

Additionally, the board voted to hire Paige Stoddard as a three-hour cafeteria worker, pending documentation of certification and a routine background check.

On a motion by Carter, seconded by Schmidt, the board voted unanimously to accept the resignation of Dan Smith as a volunteer assistant high school baseball coach.

FUND TRANSFERS/TAX ABATEMENT

In somewhat related actions, the board approved a resolution transferring $75,000 from the School Facilities Sales Tax fund to the Bond and Interest Fund to service indebtedness for previous capital improvements. The resolution also abates an equal amount in property taxes in keeping with a pledge the board made to voters before the current one percent School Facilities Sale Tax measure was passed by Macoupin voters.

The board also approved a resolution abating taxes previously levied to service a $1.6 million General Obligation Bond Issue approved in two years ago to finance capital improvement projects over the following three years. Those bonds are being serviced with revenue from the School Facilities Sale Tax fund in lieu of property tax revenue, enabling the district to abate the tax.

Both resolutions are routine items approved by the board on an annual basis.

MULTI-JURISDICTIONAL HAZARDS MITIGATION PLAN

By a unanimous vote, the board approved a resolution to participate in the 2025 Macoupin County Multi-Jurisdictional All Hazards Mitigation Plan. The plan has be written for the past two years, but Community Unit School District 7 was not included in the document.

Being included in the plan means the district could be eligible for grant funding for initiatives such as generators, grounding for electrical storms, drainage improvements, retention ponds, safety education and other items designed to mitigate against potential hazards.

“There’s no guarantee this money will ever become available,” Owsley said. “But if we don’t approve this, we won’t be able to apply for funds.”

BUILDING AND GROUNDS

Hayes and Owsley briefly reviewed discussions that took place recently during a meeting of the Building and Grounds Committee with Building Manager Brian Page. Owsley said Page presented an extensive list of improvements that have been completed, including adding a press box at the baseball field, completing a new weight room with HVAC improvements, an updated fire alarm system, a new intercom system, completion of a sidewalk between BenGil Elementary School and the high school.

“We’ve actually done a lot,” Owsley said, “a lot of improvements.” With revenue still available from the district’s Alternate Revenue bond issue, the district plans to resurface the track around the football field this summer.

While a number of improvements have been completed, Owsley said the school wants to be “proactive” in selecting the projects it takes on in the near future. As an example, Owsley pointed out the insurance policy accepted by the board depreciates roofs on the basis of a 20-year lifespan.

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“If that’s the case, we probably don’t want any roofs that are more than 20 years old,” he said.

Owsley said he met with the school architect to discuss probable upcoming projects and discuss how the district can pay for them. The entire middle school roof is approaching the 20-year limit and will need to be replaced. A portion of the barreled roof over the high school gym will need to be replaced, and the high school HVAC system is approaching its 20-year life expectancy.

Page reportedly prepared a spreadsheet of possible projects, the age of the current installations and the expected life expectancy. The document is meant to help the district target the most urgent projects and prioritize them.

“The second question is how do we pay them?” Owsley commented.

“We’re at a point with some of our bonds that we may need to extend them out or refinance them,” Hayes said. School officials plan to ask Kevin Wills of Bernardi Securities, O’Fallon, to attend an upcoming meeting to explain how the board can issue Life Safety bonds without significantly impacting local taxes.

“We want to find a way to get this work done without dropping a lot of extra tax on our residents,” Owsley said. Payments to retire existing bonds are set to increase from $900,000 a year to $1.2 million. By extending the term of existing bonds by a few years could keep interest payments down and provide enough breathing room to issue Life Safety bonds for upcoming work.

Owsley said the district wants to “complete these projects rather than wait for something to happen” and have to find a way immediately to finance the work.

OTHER ACTION

In accordance with the state’s Open Meetings Act and Freedom of Information Act, the board agreed to destroy audio recordings of close sessions older than 18 months, and voted unanimously to keep recent executive session minutes sealed.

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Carlinville Area Hospital & Clinics and Karmak are pleased to announce the success of its Warm Up Our Kids event held on Tuesday, December 2 at 1 Karmak Plaza in Carlinville. Community members generously donated new hats, gloves, scarves, socks, and other winter and school essentials. In addition to the main event, drop-off locations were set up across the area to make it convenient for community members to contribute.

All donated items, along with $2,000 provided to each school to help cover the cost of specific needs, were distributed to schools in Carlinville, North Mac, Litchfield, and Gillespie, ensuring students receive the winter gear and school supplies they need to stay warm and prepared during the colder months.

“We are so grateful for the incredible support from the community,” organizers shared. “This event truly showed what can be accomplished when organizations and community members come together for a meaningful cause.”

Carlinville Area Hospital & Clinics and Karmak extends heartfelt appreciation to all donors, volunteers and partners who contributed to making the event a success.