Urbana board approves routine finances, $416,000 in nonunion raises and switches insurance consultant to USI

The Urbana School District 116 board approved several fiscal and personnel items at Tuesday’s meeting, including the consent agenda of minutes and fund bills, acceptance of two gifts, a recommended nonunion salary allocation for fiscal year 2026, and a change in insurance consultant.

The consent agenda included bills across funds (education $1,700,000; operations & maintenance $273,000; transportation $286,000; working cash bonds $2,300,000; school facility tax $108,000; tort $49,000; life safety levy $46,000; payroll salary/benefits $4,800,000; adult education $102,000) and interfund loans moving $400,000 from working cash to transportation and $200,000 from working cash to IMRF. The board approved the consent agenda by roll-call vote.

The board approved a FY26 nonunion salary allocation the administration described as roughly $350,000 from the education fund and $66,000 from the operations & maintenance fund (total ~ $416,000). Trustees discussed how administrative raises are budgeted relative to teacher-contract averages and noted the allocation provides the superintendent discretion to apply funds across administrative positions rather than a flat across-the-board percentage. The motion passed on a roll-call vote with all members recorded as yes.

On insurance consulting, the district’s insurance committee recommended moving from Gallagher to USI, with the committee saying USI’s fees are lower and expected service quality acceptable. "The insurance committee is recommending a change to work with USI as our insurance consultant effective 07/01/2025," a co-chair stated during the presentation. The board voted to approve the change.

The board also accepted donations: $100 to Urbana Adult Education from Rosemarie Buck and $11,172 from the Champaign Urbana School Foundation for new marching band percussion instruments. No controversial or tied votes were recorded during the meeting.