School districts furious state won't issue approved grant money

The superintendents of two DuPage County school districts are fuming over why they won't be able to access long-promised school construction dollars this year.

A spending package that Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed into law late Monday night includes $150 million that should, in theory, fund grants first issued in 2002 to 23 school districts across the state.

Three of them, Winfield Elementary District 34, Carol Stream Elementary District 93 and Villa Park Elementary District 45, still are waiting on a combined $4.9 million.

Blagojevich's budget office claimed on Monday that a technicality will keep those school districts from getting their money once again.

A spokesman said that unless the school districts have paperwork authorizing the spending during the 2007 budget year, the state can't release the money. It's unlikely any of the districts have that documentation.

On Tuesday, William Schewe, superintendent of District 45 in Villa Park, disputed that notion. He said the original letter District 45 received notifying it of its $980,000 grant in 2002 serves as the district's documentation.

Blagojevich "is choosing to not send this money to the school districts," Schewe said. "He's supposed to be acting in the best interests of the state of Illinois.

"But he's acting in his own interests to get the legislature to do what he wants them to do," Schewe added.

District 45 was promised the school construction money to help pay for more than $4.4 million in renovations. The building plan included adding new classroom space to both Ardmore and Stevenson elementary schools.

"There's no technicality here, as the governor's office has been trying to say," Schewe said. "The school districts on this list have done everything legally that they've needed to do."

Diane Cody, superintendent of District 34 in Winfield, has lobbied lawmakers for years to find a way to fund the overdue grants.

Voters approved funding in 2002 for a $9 million renovation plan that included classroom additions and extensive interior renovations to its former middle school.

School officials had presumed the state would kick in $2.3 million through a construction grant. The amount was significant for a school district with an annual budget of about $4 million.

Local taxpayers have since had to cover the state's share. The school board voted in July 2005 to borrow $1.7 million to help pay off renovation of its schools and to build a nest egg against emergency repair projects.

"Right now, we don't know what to do," Cody said of recovering the state construction dollars. "We sought these funds in a professional and legal manner, and in the end we still didn't get the money."

Carol Stream District 93 had hoped to use $1.6 million in promised state grant money to convert its old administration building at 4N570 Old Gary Ave. into an early childcare facility.

The school district never pursued the project.