Summary of December 17, 2007
Board of Education Meeting

The Burr Ridge C.C.S.D. 180 Board of Education held their regular meeting on Monday, December 17, 2007.   The meeting was held in the Burr Ridge Middle School Band Room. After approval of the previous month’s minutes and expenditures, the Burr Ridge CCSD #180 Board heard a presentation from several GATE (Gifted and Talented Enrichment) program.  The focus of this presentation was a theoretical expansion of BRMS.  As a result of this project, students were divided in to teams and met with the District’s architect.  This meeting received a great deal of positive coverage in The Doings.  Students created a scale model of their ideas for expansion and discuss the many applications of algebra and math lessons utilized in the completion of the project. 

The Board then reviewed several recent communications.  Highlighted items are included below:

The board then reviewed the Principal’s reports included in the board packet.  Due to illness and in recognition of their fine work, the District’s principals were not asked to be in attendance at this meeting.

From the Superintendent’s report the board learned of the following items:

C.  Serving the needs of all of our students

Additionally, the District will put out an informational newsletter that will outline some of the most important aspects of the referendum to be sent out in late February.  The superintendent is also working on putting together another community meeting for after break.

D.  Efficient management practices

E.  Future facilities planning

The Board of Education took action or considered the following items:

As has been the case in the recent past, I am proposing, for levy purposes, a 15% increase over the previous year because I do not want to under-levy and have the school district lose tax money and because our EAV (equalized assessed value) increase may exceed 10%.  This is called a balloon levy and it is done to make sure that all of the new growth in EAV is captured under the tax cap law.  Basically, as the amount of money the district receives is based on the previous year’s amount received, if you don’t collect all you can in one year, it means it can never be reclaimed by the district and is lost forever.  So, districts ask for more than they can receive to ensure that they get all of they can

Keep in mind that no matter what we request in levy increases, we are subject to PTELL (tax cap) constraints for property that is not new.  While I really doubt that our levy amount would be close to this. […] Obviously, as our EAV continues to rise, our overall tax rate drops.

As our levy is over the 5% cap, we will be required to publish notification as well as hold a public hearing regarding the levy.  This Truth-in-Taxation hearing is a process that the district has been going through for the last several years as we have levied at 15% for the last few years.

After residents had been given the opportunity to make comments and ask questions, the hearing was closed.

Illinois Funds also provides us a high level of liquidity with our funds.  As a district, we have always done a good job of managing our cash flow, for long-term investments, but with Illinois Funds, we are able to invest in two funds with varying levels of liquidity.  Illinois Funds is managed by the state so there is no “profit-margin” this allows for an overall higher rate of return. This fund also receives Standard and Poors highest rating (AAAm).

Illinois Funds has historically provided a higher rate of return than other pooled funds.  This is related both to the above “profit-margin” as well as the fact that in pooling these funds there is a tremendous amount to be invested.

Finally, as investments with the State Treasurer’s pooled investments of over two-thousand municipalities provides the district with a tremendous amount of security as well as some level of comfort in knowing that these funds are managed at the state level. It would be difficult to imagine any claims that the district was not adhering to the strictest guidelines regarding investments when pooling with other municipalities and the State Treasurer. As an added precaution, the funds always remain in the School District’s name.  They are never turned over to the state.

As further proof that this is a solid investment strategy, Illinois Funds has issued a statement that they do not have any investments in the “sub-prime” mortgage investments that have plagued Florida’s pooled investment funds.

Our current policy 4:30 will allow us to invest in Illinois Funds under #4 of authorized investments, however, I have asked our lawyer to review this policy and add an additional statement in a revised policy that would specifically permit only investment in the Treasurer’s pooled investment funds.

h . First Reading of PRESS Recommended Policies

At our next meeting, the superintendent will recommend the adoption of policies: 2:20, 2:30, 2:10, 2:260, 3:60, 4:10, 4:60, 4:60-AP2, 4:110, 5:10, 5:90, 5:100, 5:250, 5:290, 6:60, 7:20, 7:70, 7:180, 7:220, 8:20 and 4:30 as presented.  These policies are already included on our web site.

We will have the first reading of our revised investment policy at this meeting and will officially approve it the second reading of these policies at our January meeting.

BOARD MEMBER ITEMS/FUTURE AGENDA TOPICS/CALENDAR

The Board’s next regular meeting will be held on Monday, January 14th at 7:00 p.m. in the Band Room of Burr Ridge Middle School.

Summary of December 19, 2006 CCSD #180 Board of Education Meeting