SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) announced Thursday that it has named a Financial Oversight Panel (FOP) for East St. Louis School District 189 with Ranodore Foggs serving as the panel’s chair. The FOP, with five ISBE-appointed volunteer members, will serve District 189 for at least three years in order to help the district achieve financial stability.

“On behalf of the Board, I want to thank these citizens for stepping up to offer their time and expertise in helping this district get back in good financial health,” said State Superintendent of Education Christopher A. Koch. “Districts that are operating with a balanced budget are better able to serve students today and plan for the future.”

The ISBE-appointed members of the FOP are:

• Karen Davis, Vice Chair of the Illinois Housing Development Board with a background in public and private financing. Ms. Davis lives in Maryville. Davis will serve on the panel until November of this year.
• Ranodore Foggs, a former East St. Louis Chief of Police and State Police officer and pastor of New Horizon Community Church in East St. Louis. Foggs lives in Fairview Heights and will serve as chairman of the FOP.
• Sister Julia Huiskamp, business manager of the East St. Louis Housing Authority. Sr. Huiskamp, with the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent DePaul, lives in East St. Louis.
• Jerome Jackson, Pastor, Southern Mission Baptist Church, former junior high social science teacher in District 189. Jackson lives in East St. Louis.
• Linda Matkowski, a financial advisor with Raymond James Public Finance Group in Chicago and past school board member for Carpentersville-based Community Unit School District 300. Matkowski lives in Glendale Heights.
• Judge Milton Wharton, a judge in the 20th Judicial Circuit in Belleville. Judge Wharton’s term will begin in November.

The East St. Louis School District 189 serves more than 7,000 students and has been under ISBE oversight since last spring. The State Board will consider next month whether or not to remove the locally elected board and replace them with an independent authority. The district's failure to meet standards for nine years under the federal No Child Left Behind law (NCLB) triggered the state’s intervention. The creation of the FOP will provide the district with a greater ability to meet the financial challenges the district is facing after years of deficit spending.