WHAT ROEs DO — AND ARE SUPPOSED TO DO
Illinois has 35 Regional Offices of Education, each headed by an elected Regional Superintendent. They sit between ISBE and local school districts. Their legal duties:
Conduct mandatory annual health/life safety inspections of every school building in their region (105 ILCS 5/3-14.20)
Review and sign all 10-year life safety surveys before forwarding to ISBE (105 ILCS 5/2-3.12)
Review and approve construction plan reviews before building permits are issued (23 IAC Part 180)
Coordinate McKinney-Vento homeless student services in their region
Process teacher certifications
Provide fiscal oversight and monitoring of member districts
Administer alternative education programs
Distribute state and federal grants to member districts
THE SCORECARD — ALL 35 ROEs
| Function | Grade | Documented Failure |
|---|---|---|
| Annual LS Inspections | D | Quality varies enormously by ROE. Some have dedicated facility inspectors; others assign the task to administrators with other primary duties. ISBE does not publicly publish ROE inspection reports. No public database of inspection results exists. |
| McKinney-Vento Oversight | D | Most ROEs assign MV coordination back to districts without independence verification. Zero ROEs conducted proactive MV liaison independence checks in this review period. |
| Fiscal Monitoring | D | Paper-based review of submitted forms rather than auditing actual transactions. No ROE in the review period identified a transportation billing anomaly despite $378M in annual excess statewide. |
| Special Ed Cooperative | C- | Many ROEs administer sped cooperatives serving member districts. Assessments are rarely competitively reviewed — captive market pricing. |
| Teacher Certification | B | Generally efficient. This is the function ROEs perform best. |
| Alternative Education | B | Alternative programs for expelled/at-risk students generally well-run. |
| Criminal Referrals | F | Zero documented criminal referrals from any ROE to any law enforcement agency for school district financial misconduct in the review period. |
| FOIA Response | C | Inconsistent. Some ROEs maintain excellent public records; others treat inspection reports as confidential despite no statutory exemption. |
The result: a building that passed its ROE annual inspection may still have unresolved deficiencies from its 10-year ISBE survey. The two systems — annual ROE inspection and decennial ISBE survey — are not linked in any public database. Parents have no way to know whether their child's school has outstanding life safety violations.
Pursuant to 5 ILCS 140:
All annual health/life safety inspection reports for school buildings in your region, school years 2015-16 through 2025-26 — including completed inspection checklist and written findings for each building.
Any orders issued to school districts regarding health/life safety deficiencies 2015-present.
Any buildings recommended for closure or restricted occupancy due to health/life safety concerns 2010-present.
Any districts that failed to comply with health/life safety orders within the required timeframe 2010-present.
Total number of buildings inspected each school year 2015-16 through 2025-26 and number found to have deficiencies.
Your ROE's annual budget and expenditure report for each fiscal year 2020-present.
The name and qualifications of each person who conducted health/life safety building inspections in your region for school years 2020-21 through 2025-26.
Illinois Statewide School District Compliance and Equity Audit 2026 | auditor@illinoisschooldistrict.org | IllinoisSchoolDistrict.org