Hard truths at D-220 legislative lunch

If Barrington Unit District 220 officials thought state legislators were putting them in a difficult budgeting position every year only because they didn’t understand the effect slow funding payments were having, they were stripped of that illusion Wednesday afternoon.

At a legislative luncheon held at the district’s new Early Learning Center in Barrington, state Sen. Pam Althoff said the painful truth is that the political and financial state of affairs in Springfield means no amount of sympathy for school districts is going to make it better anytime soon.

“I know that doesn’t make anybody in the room feel any better, but I think that it’s the truth,” the McHenry Republican said.

For the last three years, District 220 has had to make significant cuts to balance its budget in the face of growing economic uncertainties — not the least of which is the pace of state payments.

In fact, for the fiscal year ending this month, the district has received only one of four state funding payments so far.

To address the uncertainty and balance its budget, District 220 board members trimmed another $2 million from their budget in March.

District 220 board member Penny Kazmier said she and her colleagues already try to budget conservatively, but that the uncertainty coming from Springfield has been devastating year after year.

“We want to be able to count on payments we were told we were going to receive,” Kazmier said.

Fellow board member Tim Hull said the community has come to expect balanced budgets, but the state’s actions are causing them to come dangerously close to having to break that trust.

Althoff said she understands the pain of school district officials better than they realize. But the state is dealing with serious financial issues and some of its other payment responsibilities are even less discretionary than school funding, she added.

Democratic state Rep. Keith Farnham of Elgin said many legislators are continuing to fight hard to protect school districts’ transportation funding, for instance.

Other uncertainties affecting District 220 as it prepares to re-enter teacher contract negotiations in the fall are pending changes to pension legislation and the possible renewal of the Early Retirement Option due to expire in 2013.

Republican state Sen. Dan Duffy of Lake Barrington said there is little doubt the district would have to negotiate its next teacher contract with those issues still unresolved.

“Unfortunately there’s no good answer for this,” Duffy said. “With the lopsided government we have right now, it’s going to be difficult to get anything done.”

But the district did get some positive feedback on its hopes to keep the Illinois Department of Transportation from taking away a school speed zone on Lake-Cook Road near Countryside School in Barrington Hills.

Althoff said she would organize all the state legislators present at the lunch to send a joint letter to IDOT requesting the speed zone remain.

Republican Congressman Joe Walsh, the only federal legislator who attended, also expressed openness to the district’s desire to significantly reform the No Child Left Behind Act.

The luncheon was dedicated to the memory of Republican state Rep. Mark Beaubien of Barrington Hills — originally scheduled to attend — who died Sunday at age 68.