By Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – The leader of school districts across central Illinois is announcing funding to address school administrator shortages.

Earlier this week, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill) and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill) awarded the Regional Office of Education (ROE) a $4 million grant to help those in “high need schools and high need districts.”

“It’s actually a grant that will be leveraged and utilized statewide, but we are the fiscal agent and will be primarily responsible for its administration,” Mark Jontry, Regional Superintendent, said. “It’s really exciting because what it will do is allow us to leverage some work that we’ve done on a previous grant that has been successful to help model for aspiring principles the opportunity to get some real-world experience in those areas.”

According to Jontry, the funding can be used for those who have received their principal licenses but are hesitant to take the leap into administration.

“(This grant is also for) individuals that are kind of rising up through the teaching ranks looking to become administrators – we are going to be able to serve with a focus on our high needs or rural areas that often struggle to find an adequate pool of applicants.”

Speaking with WJBC’s Todd Wineburner, Jontry said the ROE would begin utilizing the grant in 2022.

The ROE represents DeWitt, Livingston, Logan, and McLean counties’ school districts.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].