Michael Cornale, District 87 Chief Financial and Facilities Officer, explains how districts use ESSER II and ESSER III grants.

BLOOMINGTON – Federal, state, and local grants are a huge part of Bloomington District 87’s budget each year, and fiscal 2022 looks no different. The district expects around $ 17 million in grant funds this year, the school board learned on Wednesday evening.

“The burden on taxpayers is enormous,” said Michael Cornale, the district’s chief financial and facilities officer.

Members of the public, seven of whom were against the mask mandate, watch a presentation by District 87 boards Michael Cornale and Diane Wolf about grants the district received at the school board meeting on October 13.

Connor Wood

Three of the federal grants come from the rounds of the Elementary and Middle School Emergency Aid (ESSER) program. The first round was part of the CARES Act, and the other rounds were approved by Congress in December 2020 and March 2021.

By far the largest grant is the federal ESSER III grant, which is intended to finance programs and changes that counteract pandemic-related learning losses. District 87 received $ 13.8 million from this grant that can be spent through September 2024.

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The district also has $ 4.3 million from the ESSER II grant, out of a total of $ 10.3 million. The remaining funds must be used by September 2023. The district has spent all the funds it received from ESSER I.

Diane Wolf, assistant director of curriculum and instruction, led the board through some of the other fellowships.

There are two other $ 1 million grants: Title I and IDEA Flow Through. Title I is awarded according to the number of students from low-income families. In District 87, funding goes to every school except the Sarah Raymond School of Early Education. In most schools, funds can go to any student, but elementary schools in Oakland and Washington need funds to target low-income students, Wolf said.

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IDEA Flow Through is also a federal program used to supplement paraprofessional salaries and provide professional development and technology specifically for students with special needs.

In addition to the programs of the federal and state government, the district also receives grants from local sources. This includes a $ 100,000 annual contribution from State Farm Insurance that will be used to fund programs for incoming 6th and 9th grades as they transition to junior high and high school, respectively.

The McLean County Board of Health provides funding for counselors in the school through the Center for Human Services. Project Oz is funding the Restorative Practices Specialists program, which has now expanded to Bloomington Junior High School and elementary schools, Wolf said.

The board also heard from seven parishioners who opposed the district’s state-mandated mask mandate in the public comment section. Several speakers also referred to the latest board meeting when the board did not allow people who had not signed up to make public comments.

Two of the speakers, Andrew and Becky Swan, had also spoken at the September 22 meeting. Becky Swan said during her comment that they were only allowed in after putting on masks, but that the mandate would not be enforced after entering the building. No one who spoke wore a mask when speaking, although some wore it while in the audience.

Following public comments, the board adjourned a closed meeting to discuss compensation for a group of employees.

During his report, Superintendent Barry Reilly said he might miss the next meeting due to a scheduled surgery. He said he wanted to avoid possible speculation about his absence if that were the case.

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The story of 12 other Bloomington Normal street names

Lindenstrasse

In this November 2017 file photo, traffic on Linden Street moves north of Emerson Street in Bloomington after the rebuilt bridge over Sugar Creek opens. Linden is one of many streets in Bloomington-Normal named after trees, a reminder of the early Twin Citian Jesse Fell’s fondness for trees.

DAVID PROEBER, THE PANTAGRAPH

Emerson Street

Franklin K. Phoenix named Emerson Street for his “radical” of his time, Ralph Waldo Emerson.

DAVID PROEBER, THE PANTAGRAPH

Präriestrasse

In this November 2017 file photo, bright red trees line the streets of Empire and Prairie. When Prairie Street was named, its northern end ended at the Prairie, and it was believed that it would always be so.

PANTAGRAPH FILE PHOTO

White place

SR White built White Place, North Clinton Boulevard, and Fell Avenue in 1898 with the aim of making the neighborhoods “several beautiful residences” with “new streets, sleek sidewalks, and improvements.”

DAVID PROEBER, THE PANTAGRAPH

Promenade circle

The Park Place Subdivision in West Bloomington and part of Normal has several streets named after the tiles of the legendary Monopoly board game.

ROBYN SKAGGS, THE PANTAGRAPH

Empirestrasse

Empire Street was named after a large factory in the city called The Empire Works.

DAVID PROEBER, THE PANTAGRAPH

Belt avenue

Normal’s place in Steak ‘n Shake history is cemented with this street named after AH “Gus” Belt who founded the restaurant chain in Normal in 1934.

Google Maps

Allinstrasse

Bloomington might not exist if James Allin hadn’t donated the original 25 acres that became the city. He named the streets Catherine and Livingston for his wife Catherine Livingston Allin and Lee Street for his son Lee Allin.

ROBYN SKAGGS, THE PANTAGRAPH

Willedrob Street

The father of developer Bill Brady Jr., William Brady Sr., came up with the name “Willedrob” by combining parts of the names of his three sons: William, Edward and Robert.

ROBYN SKAGGS, THE PANTAGRAPH

Yotzonot drive

Yotzonot Drive comes from the Mayan language and means “place of well-being or prosperity”. Apparently, the developer of this area also owned land in the Mexican state of Yucatan, where there is a city and a cenote called “Yokdzonot”.

ROBYN SKAGGS, THE PANTAGRAPH

Hershey Street

Pavement marks were seen on Hershey Road heading south on Lincoln Street on the east side of Bloomington in March 2014. The origin of the name “Hershey Road” is a bit of a mystery, but we can tell you one thing: It is not named after chocolate. It could, according to Dr. LE Hersey, who owned a violin school in town and was on the Illinois Wesleyan University music program, and his son Max Hersey, a prominent doctor and surgeon – and at some point Street became Hershey instead of Hersey.

STEVE SMEDLEY, THE PANTAGRAPH

Stringtown Road

In this pantagraph file photo, the McLean County Highway Department crews clear debris under the Union Pacific Railroad underpass on Stringtown Road, west of Old Route 66 on the southwest side of Bloomington. Settlers started building their homes here in the early 1830s. There was no formal name for the area at the time, so people identified it by searching for the “chain of houses” and it soon became known as Stringtown Road.

STEVE SMEDLEY, The Pantagraph

Contact Connor Wood at (309) 820-3240. Follow Connor on Twitter: @connorkwood

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