Community News
School board approves $19.2 million budget
Members of the Community Unit School District No. 7 Board of Education on Monday night unanimously approved a $19.2 million budget to govern spending for the fiscal year that began July 1. The action followed a 15-minute public hearing during which Supt. Shane Owsley discussed details of the tentative spending plan. Owsley cautioned that although the budget has to be filed with the Illinois State Board of Education by Oct. 1, the document approved Monday night is likely to change because some areas of revenue of expenditures cannot be known by the time the budget is due.
“There are always projects going on or things that come up and things we have to address,” Owsley said. Additionally, he said it is not possible to accurately predict what grants and the amounts of those grants the district might receive during the course of a year. The fiscal 2024-25 budget is similar to last year’s budget, which projected revenue at $20,699,566, with expenditures estimated at $19,532.378. The current year’s budget projects revenue at $19,143,287, with expenditures projected at $19,207,960. While the new budget technically is in deficit by $94,329, the district will end the fiscal year with positive balances in all funds due to healthy end-of-the-year balances in all funds.
The Education Fund represents the lion’s share of the budget, with revenue projected at $14,173,009 and expenditures estimated at $13,751,769. State funding is expected to provide 69 percent of the Education Fund’s revenue, including evidence-based funding and special education/pre-kindergarten allotments. As a Tier I school, Owsley said, the district will receive supplemental funding under the evidence-based formula, but he warned the amount of that supplemental funding is likely to decline next year if the local district is kicked up to a Tier II school. Tier status is determined by the school’s percentage of full per capita funding for educating students. When evidence-based funding began, Owsley noted, CUSD 7 was at 67 percent. This year, the district is at 76 percent, just two percentage points away of being elevated to Tier II.
“We may bump up to Tier II next year,” Owsley noted. “What that means is the tier money we receive will start to decrease.”
Local funding, which includes property tax and student fees, is expected to contribute $2,215,562, or 16 percent, to the Education Fund’s total revenue. Federal funding, including grant programs for Title I and Title II, is expected to account for $2,202,146, or 15 percent of the total. Owsley said the federal government’s share also includes Elementary and Secondary School Recovery funds (ESSR). Designed to help school districts recover from the impact of COVID-19, ESSR funding will end on Dec. 31, meaning next year’s federal share is likely to be substantially less.
Fifty-nine percent of the Education Fund’s expenditures are earmarked for instruction, with two percent allotted for support services and 12 percent for payments to other districts who cooperatively provide educational services for CUSD 7 students. Owsley said he also built in a one percent line item for contingencies in hopes of precluding the necessity of formally amending the budget if expenditures exceed expectations.
Revenue for the Operations and Maintenance Fund are expected to total $1,278,524, which includes $480,284 in local funding, $300,000 from the state, and $475,240 from federal sources, including ESSR funds that will expire at the end of the calendar year. Expenditures are projected at $1,230,195, which includes general maintenance, supplies, utilities and custodial salaries.
The Transportation Fund is expected to have revenue totaling $860,242, with 75 percent of that revenue coming from the state government. Expenditures, totaling $836,090, will include $651,699 (78 percent) for driver salaries and supplies, and $184,391 earmarked for debt services.
A Capital Projects Fund is expected to receive $390,405, accruing from a state grant and the county’s school facilities sales tax. A total of $225,000 will be transferred from other funds to service a $1.6 million alternative revenue bond issue approved earlier this year. Additionally, there will be a $75,000 abatement to taxpayers, as agreed when the one-cent sales tax was approved by voters. The district plans to spend $872,906 from the Capital Projects fund for various capital improvement projects.
For debt services, the budget expects $1,123,614, which will come entirely from local sources including real estate taxes and a county-wide school facilities sales tax, plus $219,308 for the lllinois Municipal Retirement Fund and Social Security contributions. Expenditures are projected at $1,531,362, including payments of $410,887 for the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund and Social Security contributions, and $1,120,475 for debt services.
The Tort Fund, which covers legal expenses and insurance premiums, is expected to take in $564,684 and have expenditures of $587,500.
The Working Cash Fund, basically a “rainy day” fund that can loan cash to other funds, will have revenue of $105,707 with no anticipated expenditures.
Three of the funds are projected to be in deficit for the fiscal year. Expenditures are expected to exceed revenue by $91,579 in the IMRF/Social Security Fund, $22,816 in the Tort Fund and $482,501 in the Capital Projects Fund. Because each of those funds have surplus balances, however, all district funds are expected to end the fiscal year in the black. The Capital Projects fund, for example, received an injection of $1.6 million last fiscal year due to the alternative revenue bond sale. That revenue was reflected in last year’s budget, while expenditures from those funds are expected to take place over the next three years.
Allowing for existing balances at the beginning of the fiscal year, the district is expected to end the currently fiscal year with $14,655,840.
According to Owsley’s projections, the Education Fund ended the last fiscal year with a balance of $7,532,031 and is expected to end the current fiscal year with $7,953,271. The Operations and Maintenance Fund had $772,872 at the end of last fiscal year, and is expected to have $821,201 at the end of the current year. Starting with a balance of $518,728, the Transportation Fund is expected to have $542,880 at the end of the current fiscal year. Capital Projects had $1,968,901, due in part to the bond sale, and is expected to end the year with $1,486.400. Debt Service is expected to have $398,697 at the end of the year. IMRF/Social Securities started with $597,467 and is expected to end with $405,888. Starting with $173,558, the Tort Fund is expected to end the fiscal year with $150,742. With zero expenditures expected, the Work Cash Fund is likely to grow from $2,791,054 to $2,896,761 at the end of the fiscal year.
Though allowed by the School Code, CUSD 7 does not have a Fire Prevention/Life Safety fund, Owsley noted. That’s because the limitations imposed by the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL), the district cannot levy a tax for the fund without exceeding the tax cap. However, Owsley reported, legislation is being proposed that would allow districts subject to tax caps to levy a Fire Prevention/Life Safety tax without it counting against the cap. If that legislation is passed into law, the district would be able to levy a tax for that fund, thereby establishing a new base for future tax levy calculations.
DISTRICT FOCUS
Macoupin County CEO Board Chair Scott Reichmann asked the board to consider making a $1,000 “investment” in the innovative countywide education program that trains high school seniors in entrepreneurship. Launched in 2017 by a group of Carlinville area business leaders headed by Karmak founder Richard Schein, the Macoupin County Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities (CEO) provides training to equip high school seniors with the tools they need to launch a business later in life. All eight Macoupin County school districts participate.
Reichmann said this year’s CEO class comprises 12 students, three of whom are from CUSD 7.
“You can tell who the leaders in Gillespie are going to be,” Reichmann said, referring to the GHS seniors.
Reichmann said the class meets in a location that is somewhat centrally located for most students. This year’s class has been meeting at the Illinois Coal Mining Museum in Gillespie. With eight districts involved, some students have a half-hour drive to attend the class.
Each student is assigned a “mentor” from among 30 business leaders on the program’s mentor roster. During the course of the year, students will brainstorm a new business from the ground up, developing a product or service, writing a business plan, and exploring how to finance and promote their business start-up. At the end of the year, the students participate in a CEO Trade Show where they showcase their concepts. Some students in the past have gone on to actually establish the business they developed in the CEO Program.
“I’ve been involved with this from the start,” Reichmann said. “I love this program.”
He told the board the CEP Program is approaching all eight districts in the county to ask for a $1,000 investment. The program receives no state or federal funding and is funded entirely by donations, primarily from Macoupin County businesses. Reichmann said the program typically operates on an annual budget of $35,000 to $40,000, which includes the salary paid to the program facilitator. The Macoupin County program also pays a fee to the Effingham CEO program, which is the parent program for the program in Maocupin County and other areas.
Answering a question from board member Amanda Ross, Reichmann said students can earn college credit through the program if the facilitator has a master’s degree. Former facilitator Pete Visintin held a masters degree. The current facilitator does not, but Reichmann said the local board is working with the Effingham parent program to find a way to offer college credit.
Reichmann was accompanied by Josh Ranger who completed the program in 2022.
“I truly believe it is one of the best classes you can take,” Ranger said. “It had a big impact on my life. It teaches you things from how to talk to people to how to run a business.”
STRATEGIC PLAN
Board members received a new Strategic Plan for the district to guide the district in various areas over the next five years. Written over a period of about 18 months, the new plan was drafted by a 24-member committee that included community members, district administrators and teachers, and two school board members, along with the maintenance director and transportation director.
“This is very impressive,” Board President Mark Hayes said, thanking the committee members who worked on the document.
“This isn’t something that’s going to sit on a shelf,” said Supt. Owsley. “This is going to serve as the roadmap for us for the next five years.” He said he was pleased to report that some of the initiatives outlined in the plan are already being implemented in the district.
The last five-year plan was drafted in 2014 and actually expired in 2019. The work on an update was delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The updated plan focuses on five strategic areas:
• Growth and Development: which includes introducing middle school and high school students to college and career opportunities, promoting off-campus certification programs, expanding the fine arts program, expanding advanced learning and college credit opportunities, and increasing parent involvement in district initiatives.
• Student Mental Health and Physical Well-Being: which includes fostering development of social skills, providing additional food options to improve nutrition, and providing more choices for educational and extra-curricular opportunities.
• Community and Culture: which emphasizes educational opportunities to prepare students to manage personal finances and understand financial responsibility, ensures career or college readiness on the part of GHS graduates, creates a sense of community within the district, and increases sponsorship of non-athletic clubs and organizations within the district.
• Campus Environment: which includes improving and maintaining infrastructure, providing for campus safety and emergency protocols, upgrading libraries and media centers, improving campus parking, upgrading district transportation, and upgrading and maintaining playgrounds at the elementary level.
• Financial and Fiscal Responsibility: which directs the district to seek additional revenue through grants and other resources, manage spending for the greatest efficiency, invest funds for maximum returns, and focus on facility upgrades including enhanced safety measures and expanded scholastic opportunities.
SIXTH DAY ENROLLMENT
The board briefly reviewed sixth-day attendance figures, which is the basis on which school aide formulae are calculated. The number of students enrolled and attending on the sixth day of school this year is down from the previous year, continuing a trend for declining enrollment over the past ten years.
School attendance on the sixth day in CUSD 7 totaled 1,073, which included 498 in elementary school, 245 in middle school and 330 in high school. The total attendance is down from a peak of 1,344 in 2017-18, and a ten-year average of 1,225.
“This is the lowest our enrollment has ever been and it’s not even close,” Owsley said. “We are seeing a pretty dramatic decrease.” Declining enrollment is a countywide phenomenon, according to Owsley, but it will have an impact on staffing needs, budgeting, and other areas.
Without taking formal action, the board authorized Owsley to purchase a $5,000 program from Frontline Analytics which will help project enrollment in the future on the basis of live births, compare test scores with districts of similar size, compare financial information with other districts and otherwise analyze available data.
SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
Supt. Owsley reported to the board that CUSD 7 has been selected to receive a $221,635 Stronger Connections grant which will be used to support Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) staff at BenGil Elementary School. Owsley also reported he has been selected to be a presenter, along with superintendents from Mount Olive, Sparta and Marissa, for a session on Social-Emotional Learning at the American Association of School Administrators next March in New Orleans.
STUDENT DISCIPLINE
Upon returning from a 35-minute executive session, the board voted unanimously to “hold in abeyance” the expulsion of an unidentified student, and transfer the student to the Macoupin County Alternative School for no less than the first semester of the current school year. The action essentially allows the student to avoid being expelled by attending Alternative School classes. The action also allows the student to continue to earn credits toward graduation.
PERSONNEL
Also following the brief closed-door session, the board voted unanimously to hire Chris Fenton as a district custodian.
Laurie Price was hired as a special education bus aide, pending verification of certification and a background check. In separate actions, the board accepted the resignation of Bennie Maddox as a full-route bus driver and rehired him as a substitute driver. Billy Bowles was unanimously employed as a full-route bus driver. Mark Smith was hired as a substitute driver, pending verification of certification and a background check.
The board accepted the resignation of Emilie Campbell as a paraprofessional classroom aide, effective Aug. 22, and hired Shelby Maguire as a paraprofessional classroom aide, pending verification of certification and a background check.
Board members unanimously accepted the resignation of Jan Allan as a part-time cafeteria work and posted the position as vacant.
OTHER ACTION
In other action, the board:
• Voted unanimously to apply for a $6,000 school maintenance grant.
• Changed the date of the December board meeting from Monday, Dec. 16, to Wednesday, Dec. 18.
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Dana Carr Skinner, 52, of Gillespie has announced her candidacy for Macoupin County Circuit Clerk. She will be on the November 5, 2024, General Election ballot.
Dana, a lifelong Macoupin County resident was born and raised in Wilsonville by her
parents, Barb and Van Baker. She graduated Gillespie High School in 1990 and attended SIUE
before starting her family. She has raised eight children all of whom graduated college or attended trade school. Dana is married to Todd Skinner.
Dana is currently a public servant, serving the people of Illinois as a paralegal. She has
over 25 years legal experience with 15 of those years being directly in the courtroom. She has
worked in law firms that practiced in all areas of the law from probate, family, civil, traffic,
criminal and real estate. After working several years in the legal field, Dana went back to college and obtained a paralegal degree.
Dana is running for Circuit Clerk because, “It is time for me give back to my community
and the residents of Macoupin County. Lee Byots Ross has done an amazing job as our current Circuit Clerk and I want to continue the work that she has accomplished. My adult life has been focused on my family and my children, and they are now grown. My focus now, would be to demonstrate to the residents of Macoupin County that I can and will do an excellent job as
Circuit Clerk,” Dana said.
The Circuit Clerk is responsible for establishing, maintaining and keeping all records of
the court, as well as several administrative, financial and public services.
“There are employees in the office now that have worked there a number of years, and I will be committed to them and their opinions, as well as the people the Macoupin County. I will learn from the current employees if I am elected in November and I believe that I have the experience, the knowledge and the work ethic that would make me an asset to the Circuit Clerks Office’s team,” Dana said.
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United Mineworkers of America President Cecil Roberts will commemorate the 125th anniversary of Union Miners’ Cemetery in Mt. Olive on October 13. Ceremonies begin at noon with a short historical parade, Roberts, IL AFL-CIO President Tim Drea, and frequent labor music.
Afterward, a meal will be provided as the labor music continues. The event is free and open to the public. A portable chair is recommended.
The cemetery is located on near 5536 Mt. Olive Road in Mt. Olive and can be found by following North Lake Street.
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Background of Union Miners Cemetery by the Mother Jones Museum:
The Union Miners Cemetery is in Mt. Olive, a small mining-town that was once the center of a rebellious group of miners who helped to secure Illinois as the solid rock for the United Mine Workers Union. Today thousands of visitors come each year to pay their respects to the memory to Mother Jones and the spirit that guided her and the founders of the labor movement in the United States. They reflect about the connections between the past and the present.
The cemetery was established in 1899, when commemorations of the miners killed in the 1898 “Virden riot” became controversial in the Mt. Olive cemetery where they were originally buried.
The bodies of the Virden “martyrs” were re-interred in a cemetery established as the Union Miners Cemetery by the Mt. Olive United Mine Workers local. Commemorations of these events in the following years contributed to a generation of activism in the Illinois coal fields.
They did this by claiming the kind of memorial space that was denied in other places, such as Haymarket, where police often disrupted commemorations. This built a sense of connection between past and present in the area, and made it clear that ordinary workers had changed the course of history. The role of the ordinary worker came into focus. Mt. Olive was one of the few places in the country where labor history was taught before the 1970s.
This is a unique place in the history of the labor movement; it was the only union-owned cemetery in the country. This is a place with a monument to Mother Jones, but it also evokes the power and potential of the labor movement. It is a place of reflection and remembering, of thinking of the labor movement’s roots. It is a shrine not only to Jones but to the sacrifices that connected human rights and labor rights, a place where people wonder when and why labor lost power.
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When I decided to write this article, my original intent was to find out when they removed the rails down the middle of Macoupin Street, but I thought I might research when the railroads came and went in Gillespie. So here is a brief history!
In the 1850’s, railroads were becoming more important to the US for both transportation of people and goods. Chicago was the hub of railroad traffic in the west and cities throughout Illinois were vying to have railroads come through their section of the state. Having a railroad meant prosperity and growth. Towns would grow with increased population. The key question was where are the railroads going to go? Influence by key political people throughout the state was important.
Prominent people in the US and central Illinois like Judge Joseph Gillespie, William Mattoon, Electus B Litchfield and Robert Rantoul (Massachusetts senator) and others help bring the railroad south.
The move south was brought about by the chartering of the Terre-Haute & Alton Railroad in January 1851 out of Mattoon, Illinois. It was to extend south to Alton because legislators wanted Alton to compete with St. Louis in the growth of the area. The work was started in 1852 to originally go 172 miles. It was completed in March 1856. Extensions were created from Alton to Belleville and eventually to St. Louis. By 1857 the route was completed and a railroad went through Gillespie. The St. Louis connection was helped by the building of the Eads Bridge in 1874.
In June 1867, the Terre-Haute Alton Railroad was leased to the Indianapolis & St Louis Railroad but went into foreclosure in 1882 and sold to the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad (known as the Big Four). This railroad came under control of Vanderbilt and the NY Central Railroad system.
The Terre-Haute Alton Railroad/Big Four Railroad came to Gillespie on an east west route. It passed through Gillespie today in the land next to the Civic Center, crossing Macoupin Street next to Subway. The Big Four Terminal was just off Macoupin Street where the Civic Center is located. There were additional terminals in Hornsby and Dorchester.
A 2nd railroad will add additional prosperity to Gillespie. The Illinois Traction System was a brainchild of William B. McKinley (not the president). He had a vision to create an electric railroad empire that covered at its peak 550 miles of rail.
The Traction system started in connecting Danville and Champaign in 1901-02, then to Decatur to Springfield in 1904. He also completed the route from Springfield to Granite City going through Gillespie and Benld in 1904. This Interurban as most people called it was a passenger service. It would eventually connect to Peoria by 1907 and St Louis by 1910. It was also possible to go to Chicago by connecting with other railroads. The Illinois Traction Terminal was on the corner of Macoupin and Spruce Streets where United Community Bank is located and at one time did have a small spur to the east.
Everyone associates the growth of Gillespie-Benld and the surrounding area to the coal mines, but the railroad also played a key part in the growth of the area.
You might wonder why main street is so wide compared to other towns’ business districts? Gillespie was unique by having the Interurban rail down the center of Macoupin Street but also the Big Four crisscrossed near Walnut Street. The town has to be one of the few towns in Illinois to have that unique situation.
In the early days, the crisscross intersection was controlled by only railroad signs. The “Stop, Look and Listen” slogan did not stop accidents at the crossing. Eventually, a crossing watchman was hired to control the car and pedestrian traffic at the intersection of the two railroad lines. It was also not unusual for a parked car to back into the Interurban in the business district.
These two railroads went north-south and east-west throughout town until the Interurban ceased to operate. The last Interurban use was on March 3, 1956. The rail line was eventually taken over by other railroads and would only be used for freight transportation, especially by Norfolk Western and other railroad lines. The rail line did have a brief arrangement to transport coal from Monterrey Coal Junction to Edwardsville in 1970, but the last use of the old Interurban Line for freight use occurred on August 20, 1970.
The eventual decline of the railroads in Gillespie coincides with the decline of the coal mines. Railroads were being transformed from coal to diesel and coal use immediately declined.
The Big Four stopped operating on December 17, 1964. Slowly they started to remove the tracks between Litchfield and Bethalto. Illinois maps show Big Four railroad tracks in 1965, but they are gone by 1967.
Now to the original premise of the article, when were the railroad tracks removed down the middle of Macoupin Street? My sources throughout town were varying, I got all kinds of guesses. I narrowed it down by my own memory. It was there in 1972 when I started teaching but then all of a sudden it was gone. I searched newspapers in the fall of 1972, then 1973 and I found it in 1974.
In January of 1974, the city decided to do something about the water lines in the business district. There was a conversation in late February to remove the tracks, but when will they do it? At the same time there was discussion about the sewer lines where the tracks are located. So, the city decided to it all at the same time, remove the tracks, and do water and sewer lines. By early April 1974, the tracks are gone and by early May, the downtown was a mess because of the water main project. After the downtown removal of tracks, the city eventually moved further north and south on Macoupin to remove the remaining tracks.
So, what proved to be a simple search gave you, the readers, a history of the railroads in Gillespie. Stop by the library and see the assorted railroad pictures and if you have anything railroad-related or an interesting picture involving the railroad such as an accident involving the railroads. I would like to see them.
