The Taylorville School Board of Education sat down Tuesday night for their regular monthly meeting of December, with a public hearing held prior to the main agenda for the evening. The Board opened the floor to discussion surrounding their 2025 tax levy and it’s adoption; however, no public comments were made. The public hearing would last only two minutes. As required by the state of Illinois, Superintendent Brandi Bruley gave those in attendance the District’s beginning fund balance.
Board members later voted to approve the tax levy as it was presented in November, with a 7 – 0 vote. The next step in the process is sending their proposal to the County Clerk’s office for further approval.
Two presentations dominated the remaining time had for the December meeting. First, the Taylorville FFA chapter, led by instructor Sue Schafer, presented their start for the year to the Board. Schafer highlighted the immense success already had by her group and talked what’s to come in the next year.
Graham and Hyde provided the second presentation, starting with work planned for North Elementary. This project, valued at roughly $550,000, will add classrooms while blending them with the existing space. The project will be out to bid in January and submitted proposals should be ready for discussion by the February 2026 meeting.
The presentation continued with “health life-safety projects” and the necessary reports that go with them, expected for both Memorial School and Taylorville High School. While the High School is expected to only have a few minor issues and needed fixes, the same cannot be said for Memorial School. As it was described, Memorial has enough major issues that would potentially call for the need to build an entirely new building. These are only reports and are yet to be done, and as such, no action has been taken as of this time.
As for the much awaited ‘Performing Arts Center’ at Taylorville High School, a preliminary plan was shared with the Board. The facility is looking to have 350 seats, an orchestra pit, and a 40 foot stage. All of this and more is to be housed in a nearly 13,000 square foot building. Again, this new addition is in the preliminary phase and further discussion is still required. The estimated price for a Performing Arts Center of this size came in just shy of $10,000,000.
Other items on the agenda included: approval of an application to ISBE for a matching grant with funds to be used at the Taylorville High School football field, a joint agreement between the district and the NPT Special Education Cooperative, and approval of their Annual Statement of Affairs.
The Board would go into executive session for an extended period before quickly closing out the meeting.
The next Taylorville School Board of Education meeting will be on January 13th, 2026.
