 Gov. Pat Quinn on Thursday inked a new law that holds lawmakers from
passing any new instructional mandates.
Instructional mandates require school districts to integrate certain
topics into their curricula. The mandates can call for new standards
in subjects ranging from history and language to driver's education
and physical health.
The new law also requires the creation of a task force that will
look into the mandates and recommend courses of action for lawmakers
and the governor. The task force would have to forward its
findings by next July.
The moratorium on the mandates would last until a year after the new
task force releases a report on its findings.
State Sen. Susan Garrett, D-Highwood, said the state needed to make
a focused analysis of the mandates and their effectiveness.
"We really want to get our arms around how many mandates there are,
how much they cost and how they are implemented," she said.
She added that the task force would likely take two months to get
off the ground and would include individuals selected from all parts
of the state by the governor and legislative leaders.
In years past, lawmakers have passed new requirements on to school
districts but have not provided a funding source to administer the
new mandates.
According to state Rep. Roger Eddy, R-Hutsonville, this leaves
cash-strapped schools seeking more money from their local
governments in order to compensate.
"The mandates will burden school districts without considering how
they're going to pay for it," said Eddy, a current school
superintendent. "They're pretty much de facto tax increases on
towns."
Eddy has sponsored a legislative proposal,
House
Bill 4711, that would allow
individual school districts to waive any new unfunded mandates
passed by lawmakers. The governor's office is considering the
proposal.
Some school districts have used other methods to attract funding.
Juanita Terronez, a principal at Ericsson Elementary School in
Moline, said her school has turned to fundraisers in order to help
fill the money shortfall.
Terronez says her 200-student school
complies with the mandates, despite lacking adequate staffing and
resources.
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"It is difficult when you don't have the money to enforce these
mandates, but you do the best with what you've got," she said.
The Moline School District is facing a $6.5 million budget deficit
going into the new school year. But Ericsson Elementary School faces additional challenges brought
on by unfunded mandates and depleting resources coupled with an 18
percent enrollment increase since 2008.
It qualifies for Title I assistance from the federal government
because many students come from low-income families, as well as a
heavy presence of non-English-speaking students. The federal
dollars, however, could not fully plug its funding gaps.
Nearly 96.7 percent of Ericsson's students come from low-income
households and 85.7 percent are of Hispanic descent -- 64.1 percent
require additional English teaching -- according to 2009 findings by
the Illinois State Board of Education.
Terronez said her school has depended on fundraisers and individual
contributions to make up for state dollars lost to education cuts
and unpaid bills -- a trend she has seen in other parts of the district
with mixed success.
Ericsson Elementary is "in a high-poverty area," she said, which
makes it even harder for families to give. Despite an outpouring of
community support, the school was only able to bring in about $500
at its last fundraiser, she said. More is going to be needed if the
district hopes to keep up with the hundreds of mandates already on
the books. "We're hoping that we can raise property taxes to get more revenue,"
she said. "(Until then) we have fundraisers."
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By KEVIN LEE, BILL McMORRIS]
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