The District 202 Board of Education will be voting on the budget for the 2001-02 fiscal year as well as considering a proposal for new graduation requirements tonight at its second meeting of the new school year.

“I’m sure the budget will pass,” board member Elizabeth Tisdahl said. “We’re spending a great deal of money on the buildings, but we have to.”

While construction costs are accepted, Tisdahl said the budget is increasingly challenging because of shrinking state and federal funding and growing student enrollment.

“The state and federal governments are always talking about education, but the budget reflects their real values,” Tisdahl said. “The tax caps are making it harder and harder to balance the budget and pay the teachers a reasonable salary.”

She said the budget is the most important item on the agenda, not because it is controversial but because “it’s a tremendous accomplishment to have a balanced budget.”

Following the budget vote is an approval of policy, which is a periodic responsibility of the school board, board member Ross Friedman said. Policy is adjusted to ensure it is consistent with the goals of the school, as well as with state codes.

Most of the school policy language comes directly from the state, Tisdahl said.

Adjustments to the job descriptions of the principal, superintendent and other administrators will not change their current responsibilities, Tisdahl said, but the descriptions will better reflect what they already are doing. Tisdahl said the change will bring them in line with state expectations for the positions.

The graduation requirement proposal by Superintendent Allan Alson may be the only controversial part of the meeting, according to board member Jane Colleton. The proposed change would affect core courses, potentially requiring students to take more math and science classes in order to graduate.

Colleton expects Alson will present statistics on current math enrollment, with breakdowns by race and gender.

Friedman said minority student achievement is a consideration in the new requirements because of the high correlation between the core curriculum and standardized test scores. He said two students may have the same grade point average but not the same level of preparation for college.

With almost half of its students either black or Hispanic, Evanston Township High School has worked to foster minority student achievement through programs such as Advancement Via Individual Determination that give extra support to students with the potential to succeed in honors classes.

Friedman said the graduation proposal could be controversial unless it shows that support structures will be in place to ensure students will succeed with tougher courses. It also would affect the number of electives students have in their schedules, he said. The board will have to consider what is most important.

“We’ve been having some good conversations about what’s of value educationally,” Colleton said. “Some people think that’s what we should be doing; others, (that) we’re just bumping our gums.”