 As the Illinois Legislature rushes to beat the budget deadline,
lawmakers in the Illinois House are eyeing cuts to the majority of
grants for local schools. General state aid also may be trimmed to
make the House's $6.9 billion school spending goal.State Rep.
Will Davis, D-East Hazel Crest, said the state has to cut from
schools, but lawmakers are limited in what can be cut. Although a
good portion of the budget has been decided, Davis is staying mum on
exact numbers.
"We're kind of faced with a lot of 'Well, I don't want to touch
that. No, we can't touch that; no, we can't do that,' and
unfortunately, if you add up all of the grant lines, it won't get
you close to $230 million," Davis said.
At the moment, the House's primary and secondary education budget
still is more than $230 million higher than its allotted budget,
said Davis, who noted that he can't cut mandated categories without
risking federal matching money. Mandated categories cover everything
from school buses and special education to free and reduced price
breakfast and lunch programs.
That leaves the grants.
State grants subsidize a variety of programs, including state
testing, vocational programs and bilingual education.
The Illinois State Board of Education receives about $548 million
in grants annually, said Matt Vanover, spokesman for ISBE, who noted
the elimination of many grants in recent years.
"The vast majority of (funding) has been in the form of grants
that we used to have. Currently, though, the number of what we
consider (as) grants has been reduced," Vanover said.
Christopher Norman, director of financial services for Alton
School District, said he's seen safety and reading improvement
grants completely eliminated in the past two years. This year, he
said, he worries most about grants for early childhood education and
truancy prevention programs, which amount to more than $1.25
million.
"I can't disagree … that (we need cuts). I think everybody
understands the situation the state is in," Norman said. "For me, I
would just like to see the Legislature come up with a reasonable
figure for a budget and set a budget that is realistic."
Without state aid, schools face two alternatives -- eliminate
programs altogether or fund them on their own.
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At Jacksonville School District, about 34 percent of the
district's $35 million budget comes from state aid. Without state
grants, the district would have to eliminate early childhood
education and reduce vocational programs, said Superintendent Les
Huddle.
"It'd be another one of those things where if we decided to keep
our programs, (we'd) be dipping into our pockets and our bank
accounts to keep those programs and activities for the students,"
Huddle said.
Jacksonville receives about $1 million in state grants for early
childhood programs and $20,000 in state grants for vocational
education.
Alton School District could face a similar situation.
"We would most likely restructure our administration at the high
school to meet (students') needs, and what that means is less people
doing more work," Norman said.
Davis quelled fears by saying that it's not likely that grants
will be zeroed out completely, but the House can only get to the
budget goal through a combination of cuts from grants and general
state aid.
"General state aid is the support, in my case (for) poorer school
districts -- districts that don't have a lot of property wealth.
That's what it was created to do -- provide additional resources to
poorer school districts," said Davis.
Davis hinted that a final education spending plan may be complete
by the end of the week. The House has set a deadline to vote on May
6.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By MELISSA LEU]
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