 It came as no surprise that during the conference, some of the most
talked about topics revolved around how to respond and react to the
latest blows delivered to Regional Offices of Education by Gov. Pat
Quinn's budget-cutting efforts.
In the state of Illinois there are currently 44 ROE districts,
with 44 superintendents plus their assistant superintendents who are
working without a paycheck.
Quinn has cut their salaries from the state budget, plus he has
taken huge cuts out of their operating budget.
For Anderson and all the other superintendents, this means she is
working without pay, without life insurance, retirement
contributions and may be at risk of also losing her health insurance
coverage.
In addition, the superintendents' ability to perform their duties
is being hindered by the lack of operating funds as well as the fact
that the state is still lagging behind in making payments for the
last school year.
"Our office alone is still awaiting approximately $183,000 in
payments, and Mid-Illini Educational Cooperative, our co-op for
professional development, is behind far more than that," Anderson
said. "We do the state's work -- the state just hasn't paid and
isn't paying for it."
The list of duties performed by local ROEs is lengthy, but to put
it in a nutshell, some of their most important services revolve
around assuring that school children are learning in a safe and
proper environment.
ROEs are responsible for facility inspections to assure that
school structures and equipment are safe for children. They oversee
certification and re-certification of teachers to assure that
children are being instructed by the best qualified teachers. They
are responsible for background checks for service personnel such as
bus drivers, to assure that children are being entrusted to
responsible adults.
These and the long list of other services provided are done so as
to offer students in the state the best possible education so that
they can go on to perform well in college and in their careers.
For the regional superintendents, including Anderson, there is no
question as to what they are going to be doing in the future; they
are going to continue working without pay until something is
resolved.
Currently Quinn's proposal for paying superintendents is that
they get the money from local entities.
"In light of the fiscal crisis, created by the state's inability
to pay its bills, it is not only irresponsible for the state to
suggest such action," Anderson said, "but also unlikely that schools
and/or county boards, for example, would even be able to add these
costs to their already-strained budgets."
Quinn's plan calls for the superintendents to be paid by the
counties or school districts from their share of the non-home rule
tax.
Several years ago, the state of Illinois ruled that counties,
municipalities and other local entities could not levy personal
property taxes from business owners. Instead, those businesses pay a
similar tax to the state, which in return distributes a portion of
it back to local entities.
However, since 2009 the state has continually lagged behind in
making those payments. Municipalities such as Lincoln and counties
such as Logan all over the state are seeing these payments coming in
five and six months behind when they should.
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In addition, the local governments are themselves reeling from a
poor economy. Loss of sales tax revenue and loss of income tax
revenue due to loss of jobs in their regions has put a strain on
their budgets and made it virtually impossible for them to add any
kind of contingency money to their coffers.
This proposal will make the daily operations of local government
all the more difficult as they will struggle to take on another
obligation without any increased revenues.
"I'm not sure that many people realize this," Anderson said. "Our
counties are already required to provide statutory funding for our
office operations (105 ILCS 5/3A-7), including the costs of
secretarial service, office space and other expenses necessarily
incurred in the operation of the office."
She added, "We are certainly grateful for that support and will
soon be preparing our FY 2012 proposed general office operations
budget to submit for their consideration; however, the uncertainty
of the current situation will probably make that task a little more
difficult than normal for all of us."
The move would also put a great deal of pressure on public
schools when they are already suffering financial blows at the hand
of the state.
Even in the last few months, local school superintendents such as
Robert Bagby of Lincoln Community High School have had to look at
the future of busing in their districts, as the state simply failed
to pay much of last year's obligation and is outlining huge cuts in
next year's transportation reimbursements.
While they were in Springfield last week, the leadership of the
superintendent association did get an opportunity to meet with
members of Quinn's staff, including the governor's budget director,
David Vaught. However none of the issues were actually resolved as a
result.
At the moment, the state of Illinois is required by its own
statutes to pay regional superintendents and their assistants, a law
that is clearly being broken.
In order for the burden to pass to other entities, lawmakers will
have to pass a new resolution making it so. Because legislators are
not in session at this time, it appears that no solid decisions
regarding this issue will even be reached until late this fall,
perhaps as late as October.
In the meantime, Anderson said that for herself, her assistant
Terri McDowell, who works out of a Mason County office, and all
their counterparts across the state, there is little question as to
what they will be doing.
"The regional superintendents and assistant regional
superintendents remain committed to fulfilling our
responsibilities," Anderson said, "and, especially at this time of
year, will continue to focus, particularly, on those things that
ensure our students are receiving a quality, safe educational
experience."
[By NILA SMITH]
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