The county boards in Fulton, Schuyler, Hancock, and McDonough Counties have all approved the merger of the Fulton-Schuyler and Hancock-McDonough Regional Offices of Education.
Hancock-McDonough Regional Superintendent John Meixner said the resolutions will be sent to the Illinois State Board of Elections, which will officially create the new region.
The state pushed for the consolidation of some regional offices to cut costs. Meixner believed the savings will be minimal, but he said this merger should work well for the region.
“The idea why we thought that the two offices would be a great marriage – a great consolidation – was because we do so many things together anyway,” Meixner said.
He said those things include the special education cooperative and the vocational cooperative.
The merger still won’t happen for another couple years. A regional superintendent for the new four county office will be elected in November 2014. The consolidation will then officially take effect July 1, 2015.
Meixner declined to say whether he will run for superintendent of the new regional office.
