The District 153 school board agreed to sell $7 million working cash bonds and $11.26 million in life safety bonds to finance improvements at Willow, Churchill and James Hart Schools.

At its June 9 meeting, Eric Trimberger, chief school business official, said the board’s action for the life safety bonds was the second step of that bond sale. The funding will be used for plumbing, electrical and restroom updates.

The $7 million working cash bond will cover items that don’t qualify for life safety, such as repaving parking lots, making sidewalk repairs, and installing storage units for classrooms.

Board President Alex Bosch said the board’s actions were “part of the plan that we started discussing in fall to meet some of our facility needs. This is just a continuation of the plans.”

The school board in 2025 sold $11 million in life safety bonds to cover a new roof and HVAC components at James Hart. That work will be done this summer.

In fall, Studio GC, the district’s engineering firm, gave the board a report on the assessments and needs for the district’s three buildings and helped the board categorize and prioritize work needs. The board had included school repairs into its 2026 budget approved in September 2025.

In other business, the board approved 2026-27 school year contracts totaling $365,670 for grocery and meat products with Performance Food Group, Gordon Food Service, Sysco Foods, and Alpha Baking. The board also awarded a contract to Prairie Farms Dairy for milk for $31,815.

The board approved student fee increases of 10 cents for lunch costs, raising the price to $2.55 for breakfast and $3.55 for lunch and 5 cents for milk, raising the cost to 40 cents per carton.

Wipfli, the district’s auditing firm, was given a three-year extension on its contract.