At their last meeting on Dec. 15, the Central Community High School board adopted their 2025 tax levy to be collected in 2026.
A Truth in Taxation hearing was held Dec. 15, prior to the regular board meeting, and Central Superintendent Dr. Dustin Foutch stated the school district's current rate is one of the lowest in the state of Illinois (for a high school district), and any options for the 2025 levy show that the tax rate is pretty low.
The board adopted Tax Levy Option "B," which would reduce their tax rate from 1.7962 to 1.7590.
"Although our school district isn’t directly responsible for the assessed value on property, we are extremely conscientious with regard to lowering our tax rate," Foutch said at a previous meeting. "This has been evident as our tax rate has now been reduced for the fourth year in a row, and we now have one of the lowest tax rates in the state of Illinois."
In other news, Central Community High School has 27 students who were recently named as Illinois State Scholars from the class of 2026, which is a new school record.
Central sent letters of congratulations to the students and their parents, as well as notified the elementary districts for each student since they also played a huge role in the success of these students.
Foutch offered up more great news — students at Central are performing at the 94th percentile of all schools in Illinois in Overall Academic Achievement while we are under the 50th percentile in spending.
“Talk about an outstanding bang for the taxpayer buck,” he said.
Foutch stated that each calendar year, they have adopted a Risk Management Plan for the facility and personnel.
"It is this plan and the documentation we receive that provides us with the necessary system to justify expenditures of Tort Immunity Funds on salaries and other expenses," he said, adding that they will be completing a survey and time study of their employees during the month of March in order to develop the documentation on the appropriate salary expenses.
"The plan was drafted and adopted with guidance of our school attorney. A few years ago, we added several individuals to the listing including our technology staff, school counselors, and office personnel since they are also involved in liability reducing and control duties," said Foutch. "These people do activities each day that protect us from damages and should be part of the Risk Management Plan. Our auditors confirmed the appropriateness of this direction and continue to support this expenditure of funds."
The district’s annual agreement with the Prairie State Insurance Cooperative (PSIC) will expire on July 1, 2026, and in order to comply with bylaws of the cooperative, Central is required to notify PSIC of their intention to renew or give an intention to withdraw six months prior to expiration.
“This information is necessary for them to send out requests for proposals from aggregate providers,” said Foutch. “The projected rate increase for this year will depend upon the climate of the industry and the bidding process that the A.J. Gallagher administrators will be able to draw from all providers. It is my understanding that rate increases will be competitive again this year.”
The board then approved a one-year renewal for the PSIC agreement.
Foutch reported that after meeting with the leadership team at HSHS, it was decided that it would be best for the district to move forward with the new athletic trainer as a district employee.
“HSHS has made assurances that they would continue to provide athletic training services for after-school practices, games, and summer activities – which was my primary concern with creating our own position during the school day,” he said.
The board approved to create a new position for a district-employed athletic trainer.
Social Studies teacher Kevin Crask has submitted his retirement request effective October 2029.
“Kevin is in a somewhat unique position due to the service credit he received early in his career as a substitute teacher,” said Foutch. “Typically, teachers retire at the conclusion of the school year, but he will be fully vested and able to retire in October. With that, we will have a plan for filling this position and ensuring that we have a qualified teacher ready to take over when Kevin retires.”
The board approved Mr. Crask’s retirement request.
In other action:
•The board approved the resignation of Health Occupations teacher Stacy Boruff, who will resign from teaching at the conclusion of the 2025-26 school year.
•The board also approved the resignation of Morgan Keck as the Cross Country coach.
•The board approved an overnight trip request from Harley Carlson and Jeff Jacobs for the FFA to attend the Ground Zero Conference at SIU Carbondale on Jan. 30-31. Foutch said he was “extremely pleased” with the increased number of activities that the FFA students continue to participate in on an annual basis.
•The board approved an overnight trip request from cheerleading coach Julianne Jacob for the varsity and junior varsity cheerleading teams to compete in northern Illinois from Jan. 9 to 11. The team will be staying in Lincolnshire, and will be competing at Lakes High School on Jan. 10 and Buffalo Grove High School on Jan. 11.
