May LM 2019 Special Issue_press

Streator’s new STEM lab will provide students with job skills needed for a new labor market. We were waiting, financially, for retirements or an opportunity to adjust staff. But with EBM coming in, it gave us enough cash on hand to go ahead and do it. —Matt Seaton, Streator Twp HSD #40

The goal of the STEM program eventually is to make it student-led, Seaton said, adding the “sky is the limit” on the potential once students see what their predecessors did and build from there. “We were waiting financially for retirements or an opportunity to adjust staff,” Seaton said on the district’s plan to design a STEM lab. “But with EBM coming in, it gave us enough cash on hand to go ahead and do it.”

United Twp HSD #30

Enrollment: 1,665 FY18: $1.1 million Type: 9-12 FY19: $810,221

Before the passage of the Evidence-Based Funding Model, United Township High School District #30 was operating on the margins, Superintendent Dr. Jay Morrow said. “Our property tax rate was established in the 1950s and hasn’t changed since,” he said. “We had to rely on borrowing during pro-ration of general state aid. EBF helped us stabilize our budget significantly.” Morrow said the district has focused its EBF dollars on increasing technology and providing more social- emotional supports for students. The district purchased more than a dozen Google Chromebooks mobile labs to greatly expand the usage of the devices, as well as updated the high school’s digital infrastructure to improve connectivity and internet speeds for students. “That has been a very significant thing for us,” Morrow said about increasing the district’s technology budget. United Twp HSD #30 also used its EBF dollars to hire an additional high school counselor. Thanks to a partnership with social service agencies, the district also added two mental health counselors who will work at the high school. “So many of our counselors have to focus on career planning and college preparation, so they were just not able to devote enough time to meet as many needs as our students have,” Morrow said. “We felt it was important to dedicate resources so kids could get the help they need.”

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15 LMMay 2019 Special Edition