Insurance renewal and the high school Prairie State Achievement Exam were the two big items on the budget for Tuesday's Murphysboro CUSD 186 School Board Meeting.
During the meeting, the board approved a change of insurance companies, which will save the district roughly $60,000.
"Every year you go through and look at your renewals," superintendent Chris Grode said. "This year, due to the cost cutting, we looked at WCSIT (The Illinois Association of School Boards Workers Compensation Self Insurance Trust).
"It's with the ISDA, and basically what it is is co-op of insurance for school districts.
"We're dropping our previous insurance because our rates went up and with this insurance, which basically focuses on schools, our rates are going to go down. Basically we're saving about $60,000 from what we are paying this year."
And $60,000 is a welcome amount at this point in time.
"That is huge right now,'' Grode said. "That was good news."
When the board discussed P.S.A.E at the high school it was decided that some incentive would be given for students that meet certain requirements after taking the test.
"This is going to be somewhat of a big one,'' Grode said. "The juniors at the high school this year that take the P.S.A.E., the ones that meet or exceed on the state test will be able to, next year, as seniors, experience open campus on Friday's.
"It's kind of our carrot that we're putting out there in front of them. It's hard for the kids to take that test because, other than the A.C.T. that gets them into college, it doesn't mean that much to them. This will give them, at least, some motivation. A lot of districts use some form of incentives or reward system. This is one that we are looking at and agreed to it. So this year, the juniors that are taking the test should take it seriously because it will affect their ability to go off campus next year."
The board also approved the posting of Board Policy Reviews, which Grode said are on display now and are for the Freedom of Information Act and Open Meeting Act.
The board's closed session dealt mostly with inevitable budget cuts that will have to take place in the near future. But also discussed was the hiring of four social worker positions that are currently provided by Tri-County.
"We're going to post social worker positions,'' Grode said. "Currently we have four positions that we hire or purchase from Tri-County.
"The social workers in the building aren't technically our workers. We pay for them. But they are not on our seniority list, they are on the Tri-County seniority list. So, what we're doing is opening it up and the people we currently have through Tri-County can apply, and other people can apply, and we're going to bring them back into the Murphysboro school district and have our own social workers."