December 15, 2025 Board Briefs

The Community Consolidated School District 62 Board of Education meeting was held on December 15, 2025. The full meeting agenda can be found on BoardDocs, while a livestream of the meeting can be viewed on our YouTube channel.

Finance Liaison Ronald Burton called the hearing to order. He opened the hearing by reminding attendees that the 2025 tax levy is the focus of the hearing and provided the public time to comment. A legal hearing notice was published in the Des Plaines Journal December 3.

The proposed levy amounts for all funds, in addition to other annual revenue, are projected to account for the expenditures during the 2026-2027 school year. The total levy request for 2025 is $93,251,000 which reflects an increase of approximately 4.95% over the 2024 tax extension. The estimated 2025 total tax rate for District 62 is $3.307 per $100 of taxable value. The 2024 total tax rate was $3.564 per $100 of taxable value.

While the Board of Education recognizes the fact that the district’s financial outlook is strong, it should be noted that the tax cap in Cook County, PTAB’s (property tax refunds), the state economy, collective bargaining agreements and various pieces of legislation that may or may not be considered, will continue to pose financial challenges in the years ahead. District 62 continues to try to adhere to its Financial Planning Policy, which continues to guide administration related budgeting and expenditures. The Board of Education will continue to strive to provide the best educational programming it can for our children given the resources available and the current economic environment. With the continued support of our community, we hope to maintain high standards, as we continue to prepare our students to become productive and responsible citizens.

There are three main components to calculating tax extension. CPI, which is known, and EAV and new construction, which are not. The 2025 tax levy projects $30 million in new construction due to the large projects being completed in district. New construction was $13.2 million last year. Projections and actuals can vary greatly as we don’t know when new properties hit the tax rolls, nor do we know their EAV. The district needs to over-estimate to collect all tax dollars available. Given CPI of 2.9%, if new construction were the same as a typical year, the total extension for 2025 would increase by about 3.4% to approximately $91.9 million. The 2024 extension was $88.8 million.

Finance Liaison Ronald Burton called the hearing to order. As the corporate entity charged by law with governing the school district, the Board of Education sits in trust for the entire community. Aligning with the Board’s goals, this fund transfer maintains the prudent financial management of district resources. The transfer of funds is from the Educational Fund to the Operations and Maintenance Fund. Notice of this public hearing was published in the Journal and Topics Newspaper.

Superintendent Dr. Michael Amadei shared a video that highlighted how the five goals of the strategic plan are being addressed during Year 2 of the five-year strategic plan that was adopted by the Board in April of 2024.

The School Improvement Plans, prepared by principals, assistant principals, and teacher leaders at every school, are in effect for the 2025–2026 school year.

To ensure a strong focus on continuous improvement, all School Improvement Plans are aligned with the District’s key priorities of increasing academic outcomes for all learners and cultivating a safe, inclusive, and engaging environment that leads to academic and social-emotional growth of each and every child. Each plan includes measurable goals in literacy, math, and social-emotional learning specifically as it relates to the implementation of PBIS. In addition, each school has identified specific goals to address the needs of our multilingual learners and students receiving Special Education services in an effort to close opportunity gaps and promote high levels of academic success for all students.

Each goal area includes clearly defined action steps outlining how schools will work toward achieving their goals. Building leaders, in partnership with the Educational Services team, will monitor progress towards these goals regularly and make adjustments as needed.

By developing and submitting School Improvement Plans each year, we help to ensure that each school has clear goals and action steps to guide resource allocation, prioritize key initiatives, and ensure that every student in District 62 has the opportunity to succeed.

Work continues on the implementation of Full Day Kindergarten across the district. While architectural and construction plans have been made, applications for permits have been submitted. Some work has already been bid out with construction well underway to Iroquois. There are some permits needed where the approval process is out of the control of District 62 and its architect and construction company. This is a particular concern at North School due to its location near the Des Plaines River. While approvals may be forthcoming and our work will remain on schedule, it is possible for the construction timeline to be disrupted.

Alan Armbrust from STR Partners was present to discuss the construction update especially as it relates to the complexity behind permitting.

The Board of Education adopted levy resolutions for the 2025 tax year. The amount of taxes to be levied for the year 2025, to be levied against estimated 2026-2027 fund budget totals as represented during the Truth in Taxation hearing, is as follows:

• Educational Purposes: $70,550,000

• Special Education Purposes: $4,300,000

• Tort Immunity Purposes: $800,000

• Operations & Maintenance Purposes: $10,200,000

• Transportation Purposes: $4,000,000

• IMRF Purposes: $500,000

• Social Security Purposes: $1,800,000

• Life Safety Purposes: $1,000

• Working Cash Purposes: $1,100,000

• Bond & Interest Purposes: 0

• Total: $93,251,000

The Board approved the fund transfer from the Educational Fund to the Operations and Maintenance Fund.

As budgeted, to pay for the Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) implementation, the district will need to transfer cash balance from the Educational Fund to the Operation & Maintenance (O&M) Fund. A board resolution for the transfer of funds is included in this board packet.

As required by statue, a public hearing was held and the notice of the public hearing was posted in the Journal and Topics. This transfer will likely cover construction expenses through the end of the fiscal year. Any necessary transfers needed to complete the construction work will likely occur in FY2027.

The Cook County Treasurer sent out the second installment of the 2024 property tax bills on Friday, 11/14/25, with a 12/15/25 due date. This delay was due to issues with the implementation of a new computer system. It appears this new system is also causing delays with the disbursement of funds to taxing bodies. As of this writing, Monday, 12/08/25, no dollars have been received for taxes that were paid starting on 11/15/25. There is no word as to when these tax dollars will be released. Not having received these funds has caused District 62 approximately $700,000 in lost interest, a sum that is continuing to grow.

To allow other districts in the Maine Township Treasurer system to make bond payments, $13.5 million in District 62 investments were sold off to free up funds. Most of these investments were purchased when interest rates were much lower, so to date the cost to District 62 has been minimal. However, any future redemptions will be of investments yielding over 4% interest. A spreadsheet is included detailing these early redemptions.

The Cook County Treasurer published a letter to property tax payers in the Wednesday, 12/03/25 Des Plaines Journal & Topics newspaper. In her letter, she blames taxing bodies for high property taxes. Given the Cook County Treasurer is holding citizens' tax dollars, causing lost revenue for county taxing bodies - in additional to the lost interest due to the delay in releasing bills - the district finds the letter to be unfortunate and inaccurate.

The Board approved the student fee recommendations for the 2026-2027 school year.

The district has not raised its fees in a decade. The recommendation to the Board of Education is to keep 2026-27 student fees at the same amounts as the 2025-26 fees, with the exception of transportation fees, which are shown in the schedules.

Below are a few highlights of the recommended fee changes for the 2026-2027 school year. Additional details regarding the fee changes can be accessed here.

2026/2027 Total Student Instructional Fees Schedule

• Kindergarten – $78.00

• Grade 1 – $84.00

• Grade 2 – $84.00

• Grade 3 – $88.00

• Grade 4 – $88.00

• Grade 5 – $88.00

• Grade 6 – $131.00

• Grade 7 – $118.00

• Grade 8 – $118.00

Algonquin Middle School and Chippewa Middle School 8th Grade Promotion fee: $20.00 - collected separately

Technology Maintenance Fee: $30.00 per device - collected separately

2026-27 Transportation Fees Schedule

Cost per rider:$430.00

• Examples of families with multiple riders: 1st Rider $430.00
• 2nd Rider an additional $430.00 (2 X $430.00 = $860.00)
• 3rd Rider an additional $430.00 (3 X $430.00 = $1,290.00)
• 4th Rider an additional $430.00 (4 X $430.00 = $1,720.00)

Intersession Transportation Fees, Iroquois Community School

Transportation fees for intersessions at Iroquois Community School will be calculated based upon the number of attendance days for the full intersession period at the pro-rated full transportation fee based upon the total number of days of the intersession.

Early morning middle school band and orchestra program buses

• Morning Band Bus: $60.00 per year*
• Morning Orchestra Bus: $60.00 per year*
• Both Band and Orchestra Bus: $120.00 per year*

* All Bus Fees including the charge for Band and Orchestra Bus is a mandatory, non-refundable charge regardless of a student’s status in the National School Lunch Program. Students would be required to register and pay the charge before the established deadline to allow for the effective development of bus routes.

Board President Liz Massa attended the ED-RED meeting on December 5. Those in attendance focused on the challenges related to the delay in Cook County taxes. Mrs. Massa expressed gratitude regarding the district's fiduciary responsibility over the years. She also appreciated attending the Des Plaines Tree Lighting held on December 5.

Board Member Tina Garrett attended the Association of Homeless Advocates in December. Member Garrett attended the first ambassador meeting as part of the Illinois Association of School Boards. In addition, Member Garrett noted that the Frisbie Senior Center will be offering a space as part of its rebranding process.

Board Member Gene Haring elaborated further on the Frisbie Center. Over the last several months, Member Haring has been part of the rebranding. The new name is Gen Center focusing on inter-generational work. You will be seeing a new website after the first of the year. This is a very exciting time for the Gen Center and the community. It will present opportunities for our students to be involved.

Board Member Burton thanked the Des Plaines Youth Commission for sponsoring a Youth Empowerment Seminar centered on mental health screening for middle schools.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael Amadei echoed Member Burton's comments regarding the Youth Commission's focus on mental health support of our middle schools.

Dr. Amadei thanked the Special Olympics coaches, administrators, families and students who attended the Basketball Skills event on December 7.

Congratulations to Heidi Bradley who was recently elected to the board of the Illinois Association of School Nurses (IASN) as the Professional Development/Education Coordinator. Ms. Bradley has been an invaluable member of the D62 Health Services team, consistently demonstrating exceptional professionalism and dedication to supporting the needs of our students and staff.

Congratulations to Assistant Superintendent for Student Services Dr. Ramona DeCristofaro for recently earning her Superintendent's Endorsement.

The district benefits from having a large EAV base, which in recent years has seen a shift of more tax burden to the residential properties from the commercial/industrial properties. This shift was even greater with the last triennial reassessment. Over the past 30 years, CPI has averaged 2.5%. The district is capped at 5% levy growth with 2024 CPI at 2.9%. In 2025, CPI is trending at about 3.0%.

The base EAV was higher in 2022 as Cook County performed its triennial reassessment for suburban properties located in northern half of the county. The EAV for District 62 has been approximately $2.5 billion during this assessment period from 2022-2024. With the 2022 reassessment, EAV in District 62 went up 22.7% to over $2.4 billion, this had the effect of reducing the tax rate from about $4.00 per $100 of taxable value to approximately $3.50 per $100 of taxable value.

While CY2024 CPI remains a little above the long-term average, the district will need to continue monitoring its revenues. There is still a possibility of a levy freeze that would limit the district’s ability to raise revenues in the coming years. Developments on any reduction in state funding or levy freeze will need to be closely monitored and the district will manage its resources to ensure that spending stays in-line with the projected revenue increases.

Click here to access the report.