LM Nov-Dec 2022

Dr. PJ Caposey Superintendent, Meridian CUSD#223

By Jason Nevel IASA Director of Social Media and Publications

cash bonds were put on but they were petitioned off the ballot. We’re in a relatively anti-tax community. Therefore, it became a really difficult process of educating our community. Fortunately, we were able to pass the first referendum by putting a sunset on it. Our community said we believe you that things are bad. It was an interesting blessing and a curse. It was great because it forced us to triple check every expenditure and make sure it aligned with our mission and vision. We told our community the additional revenue is not a Band-Aid. We need it forever to be competitive. Even today with that revenue, we’re funded at less than 80 percent of what the state of Illinois calls adequate. We had to go back out to referendum in the midst of a pandemic and a divisive presidential election. We did whatever we could to spread the message and make sure voters were as informed as possible. Thankfully, the referendum passed, and we are able to have sustained revenue, which will allow us to have sustained success. Howmuchof a focuswas thereon technology anddatabeforeyouwerehired? When I arrived we literally did not have email that was functioning. We’ve had quite a massive technological shift. Within that shift, we realized our internal systems were quite weak. We had data because everyone has data. We just didn’t have any systematic form or fashion of putting it together, and we certainly didn’t have any form or fashion of using it to actually improve. One of our first missions was to find

Dr. PJ Caposey, superintendent of Meridian CUSD #223, was named the 2023 Illinois Superintendent of the Year by the Illinois Association of School Administrators. An independent panel selected Dr. Caposey for Illinois Superintendent of the Year based on the significant turnaround he facilitated in Meridian CUSD #223, a district of about 1,400 students in Ogle County. IASA spoke with Dr. Caposey about the state Meridian was in when he arrived and the successes the district has achieved the past 10 years. WhatwasMeridianCUSD#223 likewhenyou werehired10yearsago? Meridian in our region is known as an incredibly strong district. However, it hit crisis shortly before I was hired. I was the fifth superintendent in three calendar years. There was also a financial crisis. One of my first board meetings I had to reduce 10 percent of our overall staff, which was over 25 people. Things were coming unglued. One of the things I had to do was restore hope and pride and bring us back to the tradition of excellence that has denoted Meridian prior to my arrival, and I think we’re back there now. Canyoudescribe the financial crisisyour district facedandhowyouwereable toovercome that? When I arrived, we were averaging a $1 million deficit per year. We had less than three months cash on hand and were very close to taking out tax anticipation warrants to make payroll. It became clear we needed to slice expenditures and create additional revenue. We went out to referendum. Interestingly, the referendum we put on the ballot had just been defeated prior to me being hired. Additionally, working

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