ROCHELLE — At its monthly meeting Tuesday, the Rochelle Elementary School District Board of Education unanimously approved a resolution to issue a maximum of $11,163,432 in general obligation school bonds for renovations at Tilton Elementary School and possible future work at its other schools.

The approval was the culmination of a months-long process of securing funding for the Tilton work. The district is currently in the process of $14-16 million worth of needed renovations at Tilton School after finding in a health life safety evaluation that an estimated $7.9 million worth of work is required at the school for those issues. Health life safety concerns the physical safety of the building for students and staff to occupy. Along with funding from bonds, the district will be utilizing $6-8 million from its reserves for other improvements involving security and spatial concerns including its pick-up and drop-off areas. The work will be done in a three-year plan, beginning this year.

Asbestos removal will take place this summer at Tilton School in one hallway and two classrooms. Parking and drop-off changes in a pavement project will be completed this summer on the south side of the building, where a cars and bus lane will be. An ongoing geothermal project will continue throughout this summer to complete climate control work at the building.

For longer-term plans at Tilton School, the district is tying in health life safety needs with recommended security enhancements and staff needs and wants, namely limited space in the building. The district has looked at designs and ideas with various options for the facelift of the existing building and additional space to be added in an expansion with additional classrooms, multi-purpose room, gym, library and music room space, ADA accessibility, technology and climate control.

The long-term Tilton work is hoped to be finished in the summer of 2026 for the start of the 2026-2027 school year. Bids would be in January of 2025 and renovation and new construction would be tied in for the same time to start early in 2025. The project would take 12-14 months. Tilton School was built in 1949.

The board moved up its health life safety assessment of Tilton School by a year to get started on the process sooner. The rest of the district's schools will be evaluated for needs this year, and some of the bond money could be used for those potential issues if they arise, Superintendent Jason Harper said.

The borrowing costs for the bonds will be at 4.25 percent. The board borrowed more than the Tilton work necessitated due to wanting to save on closing costs in the future.

"This would allow us to save around $35,000-40,000 on closing costs by not borrowing more later," Harper said. "It also allows us to have reserves on hand for things that we know will come up with our other three buildings."

Food

The board unanimously approved a food management bid for fiscal year 2025 from Arbor Management for $529,085, which was the low bid the district received. Harper said that number was $83,000 less than the cost for the previous year.

Healthcare

The board unanimously approved a district health insurance renewal plan. The rate for the plan came in at an increase of 6.7 percent, Harper said. The dental insurance rate remained flat and vision insurance increased about 25 cents per month. Harper said other districts are seeing higher health insurance increases and Rochelle's lower number is due to several consecutive years of lower usage of insurance by employees.

July

The board will not hold a July meeting next month. The board voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize Harper and the district to conduct regular summer business operations during its off month from Tuesday to its next meeting Aug. 13, including hiring and paying bills.

EOY

During the meeting, the board unanimously approved end-of-year action items that included the district's auditor, attorneys, and bank depositories remaining the same. The board will continue to meet in the Lincoln Elementary School cafeteria on the second Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. for the next year.