McLean County Times

Pontiac Community Consolidated School District 429, Cornell Community Consolidated School District 426 and Dwight Township High School District 230 received the best financial ratings by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) for their 2018 finances.

ISBE started profiling the financial health of the state's school districts in 2003, using experts to evaluate five areas: fund-balance-to-revenue ratio, expenditure-to-revenue ratio, days cash on hand, percentage of short-term borrowing ability remaining, and percentage of long-term borrowing ability remaining. The results are combined into a score, which corresponds with one of four designations.

Districts that score between 1 and 2.61 are on "financial watch"; between 2.62 and 3.07 - "financial warning"; between 3.08 and 3.53 - "financial review" and between 3.54 and 4.00 - "financial recognition".

Twelve Illinois school districts fell into the lowest financial strength category.

McLean County school districts financial health