 The latest projection from Springfield is that schools can expect at
least $600 million less than last year.Top Illinois House leaders
on Wednesday began hashing out details for kindergarten through high
school funding for the state's fiscal 2012 budget. Lawmakers said
they hope to knock out a budget earlier than usual so schools can
plan ahead rather than deal with the uncertainty of waiting.
House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said lawmakers are
going to have to make it clear to schools that there will simply be
less money next year.
"Now we're going to have to pick and choose. Some of these items
will be funded. Maybe they will get less funding. Some of these
items won't be funded at all," Madigan said. "That is the process
that we will engage in."
In the current budget, elementary and high schools received $7
billion from the state. Schools also receive approximately $3
billion from other state and federal funds each year, according to
figures from the governor's office.
"I think that certainly, we would like to see a budget passed
sooner than rather later," said Illinois State Board of Education's
spokeswoman Mary Fergus. "Because that gives districts more time to
set their budget for the coming school year."
But state Rep. Will Davis, D-Homewood, said there will be $200
million less in state dollars, and nearly $400 million less in
federal dollars this year. Davis, who will craft the education
budget in the House, said he's been told he can spend no more than
$6.8 billion.
That figure is only one of many numbers complicating this year's
budget. Gov. Pat Quinn said he wants to spend $35.4 billion next
year. But Davis and the rest of the House have set a hard cap at
$33.2 billion.
House Republican Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, said Illinois will
take in only $33.2 billion, so that is all the state will spend.
"The speaker and I have been working on, from the outset, the
concept of realizing and figuring out how much money we have to
spend," Cross said, "with (the) understanding that we will not spend
more than that -- something we've tried to advocate for a number
years."
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Lawmakers have between now and the end of May to craft a final
state budget, which will need approval from both chambers and the
governor.
In previous years, the state has skipped or made partial payments
to public pensions and even borrowed money to make payments. The 868
school districts statewide are having to deal with almost $450
million less funding in the past two years, according to the ISBE's
website.
State Rep. Roger Eddy, R-Hutsonville, said school districts have
expressed frustration about state finances during the past several
years. As superintendent of Hutsonville Schools, Eddy said school
districts either get late payments from the state or nothing at all.
"They are concerned," Eddy said. "But this approach is to say:
'Here is what we really believe there is. Even if it is less, and we
have to tell you that it is going to be less, these dollars are
there.'"
Although school districts have received less money and delayed
payments from the state, ISBE is still advocating for more education
funding. The agency recommends $7.6 billion in state funding for the
fiscal 2012 budget, more than 5 percent more than the governor's
proposed $7.2 billion.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By DIANE S.W. LEE]
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