CARROLLTON TO GET English Language Learner teacher

By Editor | December 2, 2025 |

By Carmen Ensinger

The recent addition of several students for whom English is a second language has resulted in the district needing to employ a teacher to help these students learn English.
The Carrollton School Board, at their recent meeting approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the teacher’s union that would allow the district to pay 100% tuition for an early childhood teacher to obtain their English Language Learner endorsement.
“The last couple of years, the State has identified that we should be looking for someone who has all the endorsements to teach our students who learn English as a second language,” Carrollton Superintendent Jason Bauer said. “We are now up to five or six students that are classified as English Language Learners. If you look at the State Report Card, there is a pretty large percentage of these students in the state and the population seems to be growing.”
The board approved to seek bids for HVAC unit replacement and maintenance at the grade school.
“There are some units that need replaced in some of the classrooms,” Bauer said. “We are looking to use money from the Maintenance Grant to make those improvements.”
The Maintenance Grant is a 50/50 grant from the State. The State will provide up to $50,000 to the district if the district also puts in $50,000.
“We have already had that money in our budget at the beginning of the year so it is already budgeted,” Bauer said. “We are looking to open bids the beginning of December and hope to take recommendations to the board at the December meeting, along with the submission of the Maintenance Grant.”
Bauer discussed the tentative 2025 tax levy report with the board.
“I went over what the estimates were on the Equalized Assessed Valuation (EAV) and the Consumer Price Index (CPI) were with the board,” he said. “The CPI was 2.9 percent this year compared to 3.4 last year.”
The fall in the CPI is not good news for a tax capped district like Carrollton.
“When you are tax capped like we are, we can only levy what the CPI rate is plus whatever new assessment was added to the tax rolls,” Bauer said. “For instance, if someone built a new shed or garage or even a new house, we can add those dollars in. However, since we are not able to capture EAV growth, our tax rates are very low.”
Bauer said this was just a preview and that he will probably be recommending a 4.99% of overall new dollars from last year. This is just below the 5% threshold which would require the district hold a Truth in Taxation hearing.
“This is just a request for these new dollars,” he said. “The tax rate will more than likely fall once again because our EAV growth continues to be very good.”
The board accepted a donation of $5,000 from Chad Flowers with Flowers Distributing to update the track record signs outside the track area.
Both principals reviewed the 2025 electronic report card and both schools were listed as “Commendable” as their designation status. These report cards can be found on the school website or the Illinois State Board of Education website.
A name change on the grade school activity account was approved. Grade School Secretary Melissa Prough is handing over the reins to Linda Shewmake and her name will now be on the account.
A resolution was approved by the board to set aside Board Member Appreciation Day.
“This is just to thank the Board of Education for their service and their willingness to work together for our students,” Bauer said. “We talked about how they are appreciated and of the time they give so freely serving our community.”