Dana Ash

The strategic plan for Elementary School District 159 outlines a roadmap for 2025-2030, focused on preparing 21st-century learners and leaders by educating, empowering, and inspiring the whole child. The plan is built around six universal goals: fostering a human-centered environment, enhancing teaching and learning, promoting wellness, strengthening community engagement, optimizing the learning environment, and leveraging technology and innovation. Key priorities include improving operational culture, teacher retention, academic proficiency in literacy and math, STEAM integration, expanding preschool access, ensuring student well-being, transparent fiscal management, facility investments, and ethical AI integration. The overarching vision is to create inclusive, innovative, and inspiring learning environments where every student thrives academically, socially, and emotionally, and is prepared for a complex, changing world.

Presentation of the FY2026 budget, including major assumptions for revenues such as the loss of ESSER dollars, state and federal cuts to educational funding, and potential revenue from Amazon. Major assumptions for expenses include long-term facilities planning, furniture upgrades, and new contracts with support staff and teachers union. Additional assumptions cover electricity prices, tariffs, and CPI increases. The budget includes estimated beginning balances, revenues, expenses, bond proceeds/transfers, and ending balances for various funds, with a breakdown of the total budget by fund including capital expenses. The presentation also includes a breakdown of revenues by local sources, state funding, and federal funds, as well as expenses by salaries, employee benefits, purchased services, supplies and materials, capital outlay, dues & fees, non-capitalized equipment, and out-of-district tuition, resulting in a deficit.

The budget includes estimated revenues and expenditures for various funds including the Educational Operations & Maintenance, Debt Service, Transportation, Municipal Retirement/Social Security, Capital Projects, Working Cash, Tort, and Fire Prevention & Safety funds. Key areas covered are local, state, and federal sources of revenue, as well as expenditures for instruction, support services, community services, and debt service. Discussions also involve interfund transfers and provisions for contingencies.

Presentation of the FY2026 tentative budget. The budget aims to provide educational opportunities within available resources, aligning with strategic goals. Key assumptions include the loss of ESSER dollars, potential state and federal funding cuts, and anticipated revenue from Amazon. Expense considerations involve long-term facilities planning, furniture upgrades, and increased costs due to new contracts and medical insurance. Electricity prices and tariffs are also expected to impact expenses.

The committee discussed literacy teams to enhance literacy quality, impactful structures, routines around educational epiphany, building students' reading stamina, and creating DEAR and CAFE programs. In mathematics, the goal was to move 15% of students into a higher benchmark category, but they exceeded that by moving 23% of students into a higher bench category. Fifth-grade leaders presented on anti-bullying, and students and teachers used Second Step language. They met the attendance goal of 93%.