New Trier News & Notes: 11th-hour pivot solves textbook issue; future special-ed funding concerns; more AP students than ever

Just a year into New Trier High School’s contract with a textbook provider, the district has moved on after issues arose with the provider’s ability to get students books in time for the school year.

School Board members on Monday, Sept. 15, approved the termination of the district’s contract with Beck’s Bookstores and the reassignment of the funds to Educare Systems and Management, as part of the consent agenda at the board’s regular meeting.

In his memo, Deputy Superintendent Dr. Chris Johnson said the district began using Beck’s as its contracted bookstore during the 2024-2025 school year, and after the contract was approved, “Beck’s underwent significant personnel changes and was ultimately unable to fulfill their contractual obligations to provide books to students in a timely manner at the start of (the current) school year.”

District staff sought out Educare, which Johnson noted is run by a former Beck’s employee, for assistance.

“Educare was quickly able to resolve the issues that delayed distribution of books by Beck’s, and students have now received their textbooks,” Johnson wrote in his memo. “Educare provided this service at no cost to the district.”

He wrote that after meeting, the district and Beck’s agreed to mutually terminate their contract effective Tuesday. The same contract was then awarded to Educare, “with the same financial terms and conditions, as well as other provisions.”

District approves balanced budget, but future holds challenges

Board members on Monday unanimously approved the 2025-2026 budget with a projected surplus of approximately $5 million — $142 million in revenues, which is an increase of just over 1% from the previous year’s budget, and $137 million in expenditures, an increase of 1.5%.

Johnson, along with Myron Spiwak, New Trier’s director of business services, went through the budget and explained some of the changes in funding the district is experiencing.

Much of that, the district says, is related to special education services, which will see less state funding. Spiwak also said the district will no longer receive Title I money from the state because it no longer qualifies because of demographic changes.

Spiwak did add that the budget for supplies and materials will decrease by around 3%, which he attributed in part to “really tight budgeting work” and the recent installation of solar panels on both campuses, which he said will save the district “significant dollars on electric going forward.”

Johnson added that while this year’s budget is balanced, there are concerns the district is monitoring, including special education reimbursement and increasing expenditures in areas such as transportation and energy.

He said the board is expected to receive a five-year financial outlook in January.

“(We’re) very pleased with the budget for this year but we will look at all these factors as we go out in future years,” Johnson said.

Class of 2025 profile

More New Trier students are enrolling in Advanced Placement classes and taking a wider variety of course levels, according to data shared with the School Board on Monday.

Dr. Chimille Tillery, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, presented the profile of the class of 2025, an annual report that has been shared with the board every fall for the past 16 years.

The profile examines students in the most recent graduating class, including in which classes they’re enrolling and how many are moving on to college.

Tillery said that 70% of students in the class of 2025 took at least one AP class, which is part of a trend that New Trier has tracked over the past decade.

According to the report, 58.5% students took AP classes in 2015, while 68.2% were enrolled in 2024.

Tillery said this aligns with the district’s goal of creating more access and opportunities for “rich and rigorous coursework” for all students.

As an example, Tillery said, in the 2023-2024 school year, students “who had not taken a level four (high honors) course or did not perceive themselves as AP students were encouraged to take” the newly offered AP African-American Studies course.

She said that 100% of the students enrolled passed the course in 2024, scoring a 3 or higher on the AP exam.

In 2025, 100% of the students also passed, with an average AP exam score of 4.3.

The data presented by Tillery also showed that nearly 22% of students take a mix of courses at Level 2 (college prep), Level 3 (honors) and Level 4. She also said that more students (75%) are taking at least one Level 4 course.

“This demonstrates the flexibility of the level system, the interest among students to challenge themselves in high honors courses, and the manner in which our staff and systems encourage and support students in challenging themselves academically,” Tillery said.

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