Board approves new multilingual facilitator and special-education Spanish interpreter after debate over cost and ISBE qualifications

Belvidere CUSD 100 trustees voted to create two new district positions — a multilingual services facilitator and a special-education Spanish interpreter/translator — after extended debate about cost, certification and whether existing staff could fill the roles.

The board approved the multilingual services facilitator job description, which replaces two administrative positions (elementary and secondary multilingual supervisors) and will be posted as an 11-month role in the upper $50,000s. The board later approved a job description for an in-house special-education Spanish interpreter/translator that administrators said must meet Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) qualifications for IEP-related interpretation.

Administrators argued the district has been spending six figures annually on outside contracted interpretation services and that an internal hire could provide consistency and long-term savings. “ISBE requires the translators to be qualified, which means they have to go through 40 hours of training on the ethics of translation as well as the use of technical language that is provided within the IEPs and evaluations,” a district staff member said, explaining why district officials favor a qualified, in-house hire for special-education meetings.

Board members raised budget and equity concerns. One trustee questioned paying a mid-$50,000 salary plus benefits for a position when several current employees receive small stipends for translation work, saying, “I just wanna make sure that there's no way that we can use the resources that we currently have.” Another board member noted recent spending on outside interpretation: “In FY25 we spent about $108,000; in FY26 we've already spent $97,000 as of early June,” and said an internal hire could reduce recurring contract costs.

Administrators responded that ISBE certification for special-education interpretation is more rigorous than the district’s existing stipend-based translation work and that most staff who receive stipends are not qualified to attend IEP meetings. They noted the ISBE training is limited in capacity and that contracting remains a variable annual expense; hiring would provide a fixed, predictable cost.

Both job descriptions were moved and seconded per the agenda. The board voted by roll call to approve the multilingual services facilitator job description and then approved the special-education Spanish interpreter/translator job description; the motions passed.

The board did not set an immediate hiring date at the meeting. Administrators said training options exist for existing staff but that certification seats are limited, and they recommended proceeding to post the positions to ensure compliance with ISBE rules and to stabilize services for bilingual families and students receiving IEP supports.