ROCHELLE — The Rochelle School District 231 Board of Education approved an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Rochelle regarding the Northern Gateway TIF District during the board’s monthly meeting at Rochelle Middle School on Tuesday. The City of Rochelle created the Northern Gateway TIF District last year.
“Both school districts and the city have been discussing ways the city can share increment revenue back with the schools,” Superintendent Jason Harper said. “We have an intergovernmental agreement in place which states how we will share the revenue and in which ways the district can spend that money.”
Other items

The board approved its bus barn lease with District 212 for storage of buses and other district vehicles. The board also approved the construction bid from O’Brien Civil Works ($225,752) for geothermal work at the Central School playground over the summer. Harper said that well heads underneath the playground have caused sinkage issues to arise.
Kevin Dale was approved as the new District 231 treasurer. Current Treasurer Mary Jo Moreland is scheduled to retire this summer, and Dale will assume the position on July 1.
Moreover, the board approved the District 231 Consolidated District Plan for grant funding. According to new state guidelines, school districts applying for federal grant money must submit one combined grant application instead of several individual applications.
“The state has changed the way we apply and receive federal grant money,” Harper said. “We have about 5-to-7 different grants we apply for on a yearly basis… We’ll apply for one grant and we’ll receive notification if there are any issues with any parts of the grant.”