26
Amendment moves ROE deadline,
gives ISBE authority to draw new map
Moon Scholarships available from IASA
Are you a superintendent or an aspiring superintendent? Are you pursuing
graduate study to become the best superintendent you can be? Do you know there
are scholarships available through IASA to help offset the costs of your coursework?
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Since its inception, 67 scholarships totaling nearly $143,000 have been awarded to
current or aspiring superintendents.
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2213 or
A list of previous recipients is available by
Because some county boards did not vote to
approve plans to consolidate the Regional Offices of
Education (ROE) down to 35 regions, the task will fall
to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) after a
legislative committee recently approved an
amendment to Senate Bill 1689.
The amendment also moved the deadline for
locally approved consolidations to November 1 and
with that date now having passed, moved the
deadline up to November 23 for ISBE to direct the
consolidation from the current 44 to the 35 stipulated
in the legislation. The new regions need to be
determined by that deadline because of the upcoming
elections and the need for regional superintendents
to get nominating petitions signed in time for the
March 2014 primary election.
Under SB 1689, each ROE region must contain at
least 61,000 people. The Illinois Association of
Regional Superintendents of Schools (IARSS) had
submitted a map that would have pared the number
of regions to 35, but the consolidations involved
required the approval of the county boards in the
affected counties. Based on those local decisions, the
number still stands at 38.
“Redrawing any district line is tough, and it’s even
more difficult when you are also reducing numbers,”
said Matt Donkin, Regional Superintendent of
Schools for Franklin-Williamson ROE 21, who chaired
the IARSS committee that did preliminary work on a
map plan. “Our association worked for several
months to produce a plan to suggest to counties, and
that plan had 35 regions that would meet the 61,000
population mark. We had a membership vote and a
majority voted to approve the plan.
“However, those local decisions were out of our
control and in the hands of county boards. Not all
followed the suggested map of 35, so we’re still at 38.
Now, ISBE has the authority and responsibility to
come up with a plan to get us to 35 regions. We look
forward to completing this process.”
“Redrawing any district line is tough, and it’s
even more difficult when you are also reducing
numbers. Our association worked for several
months to produce a plan to suggest to
counties, and that plan had 35 regions that
would meet the 61,000 population mark. We
had a membership vote and a majority voted to
approve the plan.”
—Matt Donkin, Regional Superintendent of
Schools for Franklin-Williamson ROE 21
