By: Diane Benjamin I love when attack dogs show how they think by leaving comments here. This one was last night while I was sound asleep at almost 11:00pm: Yes totally ignore the total corruption coming out of the McLean County Clerk office. Missing money, A guy that worked for the Clerks office had porn […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader See what District 87 wants to take out of the BHS Student Handbook: https://district87.community.diligentoneplatform.com/document/efa9682b-a2e4-467a-ae98-88d95f946fc3/ First page: “Productive citizens” is crossed out in favor of this: . District 87 doesn’t want your kids to know about freedom and liberty. They don’t want your kids to know about American exceptionalism. They […]
By: Diane Benjamin 1) If you are white, don’t apply for a teaching job at District 87. Superintendent Dr. Mouser’s will openly discriminate against you: ‘”Operationally and organizationally, the district remains stable and progressing forward. We have successfully negotiated three collective bargaining agreements and continue to maintain excellent relationships with all of our bargaining units. […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/32213 Some city employees are still spiking pensions. They rack up leave/sick days, cash out a lump sum at retirement, and use it to substantially boost their pensions. State law changed in 2012 to let IMRF (Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund) bill local governments for those spiked pensions—ones the governments never funded extra […]
Follow-up story: https://blnnews.com/2025/12/05/why-cant-3rd-graders-read-dont-blame-covid/ By: Diane Benjamin https://www.illinoispolicy.org/how-well-are-your-local-third-graders-reading/ Even under loosened proficiency standards, over half of Illinois third graders couldn’t read at grade level in 2025. District 87 has no schools where over 50% of 3rd graders were proficient. Unit 5 has ONE. Obviously education isn’t the goal. Page down to the bottom – Tri-Valley’s one elementary school is […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you own a house you are renting it from all those taxing bodies on your bill. If you don’t pay the bill it will be stolen from you. Scams abound this time of year because all of them are raising your taxes. More than once I’ve heard “the owner of a […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is the article that needs some work: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-10-30/new-report-cards-show-fewer-exemplary-b-n-schools-and-more-with-struggling-student-groups The “new report cards” are based on results from LAST SCHOOL YEAR. The article fails to mention that fact, reading it makes it sound like the information is current. Results from kids now in school won’t be known until the kids are tested […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Illinois Policy Institute recently posted a story that contains a link to easily look up school superintent’s salaries: https://www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-superintendent-pay-doesnt-match-performance-district-consolidation-could-help/ I don’t necessarily agree with consolidation because larger organizations usually become less efficient. When they aren’t spending their own money there is no incentive to be fiscally responsible. Anyway: These salaries mostly […]
By: Diane Benjamin See the Illinois Report Card for District 87 Bloomington High School: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/School.aspx?source=trends&Schoolid=170640870250001 If the goal is education they flunked. 77% graduate anyway. The District 87 website has many curriculum links. This is one for English: https://www.district87.org/o/bhs/documents/faculty-%26-staff/english/english-syllabi/455251 This is on the list, Freshman Literature and Composition: Freshman_Lit_Comp_23-24_-_BHS.pdf . Night is a biography of […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Teacher’s Unions don’t need money to get their candidates elected to local school boards. They didn’t have to spend a dime last April because only their candidates ran. Unions now control the schools. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/august-is-teacher-union-opt-out-time-what-you-need-to-know/ Excerpts: Illinois teachers’ unions spend little on representing teachers, what should be their core focus. So why should teachers […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember the 1% Sales Tax approved by voters last March? Remember the investigation into election interference by the school districts? https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/mclean-county-sheriff-investigating-alleged-election-interference The sheriffs office completed their investigation – the report has been sitting in the State’s Attorneys office for awhile now. Does Ericka Reynolds think people are going to forget about it? […]
By: Diane Benjamin Additional information on this story: https://blnnews.com/2025/07/07/is-terri-ryburn-still-living-at-spragues/ From Open The Books Note: These numbers are MONTHLY.
By: Diane Benjamin See this WGLT article: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2025-04-24/d87-optimistic-but-acknowledges-challenges-of-banning-cell-phones-at-bhs District 87 is planning to lower their property tax grab by $2 million, which is 1/3 of a revenue estimate they plan to receive from the 1% Sales Tax. Don’t expect your property taxes to go down. Your assessed values will be going up. If District 87 […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader for calling this to my attention In 2015 Illinois passed a law (Senate Bill 100) that was supposed to end discriminatory student discipline policies. How is it working? See this report from 2024: https://ieanea.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Impact-of-Student-Discipline-Policy-Reform-on-Illinois-Educators-1-17-2024_Final.pdf Go to the bottom of page 5 to see what teachers think of this bill: […]
By Diane Benjamin Krystle Able wants to win with the ISU vote. Those voters don’t have to live under the radicals they elect. Normal needs to outvote them. Signs on public property: District 87 is texting voters, of course directing them to the sales tax website. Desperate for your money!
By: Diane Benjamin It didn’t go national because it’s another government who demands more of your money. The issue got published by Just The News because there is alleged election interference by local schools: https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/mclean-county-sheriff-investigating-alleged-election-interference?utm_source=mux&utm_medium=social-media&utm_campaign=social-media-autopost# If you don’t know John Solomon, founder of Just The News, read his bio. He has a LONG history of […]
By: Diane Benjamin School Administrators are so desperate to rake in pots of gold from the 1% Sales Tax ballet question they are going to nursing homes to “educate” the residents. If you have relatives in a local nursing home, it’s time for a visit. How many “English as a 2nd language” students are in […]
By: Diane Benjamin The 1% Sales Tax increase is on the April 1st election ballet because it has a better chance of passing when few people bother to vote. If Tri-Valley really wanted your property taxes to go down, they wouldn’t propose a new bond for the exact amount of the one being paid off. […]
By: Diane Benjamin No wonder trust in government is at an all time low among people who expect Public Servants to actually work for the public. Oaths of office are now meaningless. Did you know the County isn’t going to produce a report on the fundraising at the County to abolish the Auditor until March? […]
By: Diane Benjamin Few people probably know the McLean County Treasurer’s website has years of payments to every taxing district they collect property taxes for: https://www.mcleancountyil.gov/590/Taxing-Dist-Distribution-Settlement-Shee Someday if I really want a huge project I could compile tax payments to EVERY unit of government on your tax bill. If someone wants this project, or at […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since most registered voters won’t even know there is an election April 1st, this will be on the ballot. Dist 87 meeting tomorrow: https://district87.diligent.community/Portal/MeetingInformation.aspx?Org=Cal&Id=287 From a reader: Let’s examine the numbers. District 87 enrollment has declined from 6,528 students in 2018 to 6,120 in 2024, a 6.2% decrease. Despite this, spending per […]
By: Diane Benjamin Read this story: https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2024/11/12/schoolhouse_limbo_how_low_will_educators_go_to_better_grades_1070484.html?mc_cid=ac0e6166c0&mc_eid=a903ff179f Did you know some states are lowering standards to make assessments look better? The story mentions Oklahoma and Wisconsin are doing just that to combat declining test scores. It also mentions the new head of Maryland schools, Carey Wright, who is refusing to lower expectations for students. She […]
By: Diane Benjamin Social Media is full of outrage because people recently got their property tax assessment. They see HUGE increases and think their property taxes are going up. They haven’t gone up YET, only you can stop it. The assessed value is used by all the government units on your tax bill to decide […]
By: Diane Benjamin Maybe schools wouldn’t need more funding if they weren’t required to educate illegal alien kids that only the far left think have a right to be here. We are forced to pay for illegal immigration without a vote. https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-09-05/mclean-county-school-administrators-ponder-a-countywide-sales-tax-after-failed-effort-in-2014 Read the article. Public schools are now horrendous. School administrators want a 1% […]
By: Diane Benjamin Evidently many parents don’t want to see how bad their child’s school really is. Waiting until your kids grows up to find out they can’t read or do math? The local Public School system is robbing you and your children and charging you more to do it! Enrollment at both Unit 5 […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader
By: Diane Benjamin When Dr. David Mouser ran Tri-Valley, according to former employees, he told students “don’t tell your parents”. Tri-Valley is tiny compared to District 87, yesterday’s lockdown reasons were harder for him to keep secret. The message below was sent to parents. It isn’t a false alarm (as reported by media) when “a […]
By: Diane Benjamin Any response from District 87? https://blnnews.com/2024/03/12/d87-fire-this-bloomington-fireman/ You thought your kids matter at school? Tent City continues to grow, it has spread to the old Pantagraph building. On Monday the Bloomington City Council will hear plans for the downtown streetscape. Maybe they can “tent” multiple blocks! It will be glorious!
By: Diane Benjamin I was going to redact the guy’s name in the hope District 87 had the good sense to fire him. Since numerous complaints have been made about his harassment and inappropriate comments to female students AND he hasn’t been fired yet – I’m not redacting his name. The presentation by the Bloomington […]
Why do schools do nothing when a “teacher” sexually harasses female students year after year? Specifics later, how widespread is the problem? Right now it’s D87. Comment or email: blnnews@yahoo.com
By: Diane Benjamin I can think of 3 recent times democrats changed the law in Springfield to benefit government, this isn’t “democracy”. I’m not a republican but I will never be a democrat because of oppression like this. The first one was the Town of Normal conspiring to pass a law to exempt ONLY Normal […]
By: Diane Benjamin District 87 students score well below State averages in English and Math. See last year’s scores here: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/District.aspx?source=trends&Districtid=17064087025 The district spends $15,000 per student for this substandard education. (Click District Snapshot at the link above) 34% are chronically absent, the graduation rate is an appalling 79%. I find it fascinating that WGLT can normalize stories like […]
By: Diane Benjamin We know the District 87 teacher’s union told teachers they aren’t allowed to discuss gender identity with parents unless the child gives written approval. I bet other public schools are the same. Schools: Kids do not belong to you. You aren’t the village raising them. You aren’t allowed to parent kids. Your […]
By: Diane Benjamin Ask your Unit 5 students if they had to DECLARE their pronouns. At least some Unit 5 high school teachers mandated it. Imagine being 14 or 15 and tip toeing around the other kids so you don’t accidently refer to a female as “she”when she wants to be called “they” or “them”. […]
Everybody excited to return to school? How was the violence last year? Is the Mouser honeymoon over now?
The mom below works at Sarah Raymond but she isn’t a teacher. The dad is a District 87 teacher. He is pictured in her Facebook posts. By: Diane Benjamin Her name is Meighan Hopper. Her former daughter is 18 years old, she/he can make any decision wanted because supposedly 18 qualifies as an adult. Remember […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tax-Rates.org summarizes property taxes by state. Indiana property tax rates as a percentage of home value is less than half what Illinois is. Of course everyone knows schools drive Illinois property taxes. Indiana School Districts: The largest public school district in Indiana, Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) is an agile, innovative educational organization […]
By: Diane Benjamin I would ask him but he didn’t respond to my last email. I heard a request was made to District 87 for John Wyatt Danenberger’s child (children) to attend Oakland School instead of Washington. Since Danenberger didn’t answer my last email I saw no reason to ask him. I asked District 87 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Why are many local governments holding tax hearings? Here’s the legal reason: (35 ILCS 200/18-56) Sec. 18-56. Legislative purpose. The purpose of this Law is to require taxing districts to disclose by publication and to hold a public hearing on their intention to adopt an aggregate levy in amounts more than 105% of the amount […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tis the season to steal your money! Unit 5 will raise property taxes tonight. So will District 87. The District 87 levy is expected to increase 8.24% according to the Public Hearing notice: https://go.boarddocs.com/il/district87/Board.nsf/files/CLPP386222AD/$file/Notice%20of%20Public%20Hearing%202022%20Tax%20Levy.pdf Illinois school districts have received more than $7 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Relief Funds (ESSER) to […]
