Budget deadlock grips numerous key issues

SPRINGFIELD -- When lawmakers struck a budget deal back in August, schools across the state were to get additional millions in state funding.

For instance, the state would send an extra $1,000 --up to $9,000 -- to reimburse local districts for special education teacher's pay. There'd be grants to help the most overcrowded schools. And the guaranteed minimum spent on a child's education would increase $400 to $5,734 annually.

But so far none of it has happened. It's all hung up on a technicality. Lingering political ill will at the Capitol has kept that from being resolved, and schools are now well into the new school year without the added state help.

"We obviously can't hire the staff we'd like to hire until they pass a budget. We're not going to spend money we don't have yet," said Cheryl Crates, chief financial officer for Carpentersville-based District 300, which stands to get more than $3 million extra from the state.

Lawmakers are increasingly frustrated.

"We just continue to push these school districts farther and farther away from their checks. There's just no end in sight. It doesn't seem like we're really resolving anything." said state Rep. Dennis Reboletti, an Elmhurst Republican.

Indeed, school funding is just one of several high profile issues awaiting lawmakers as they return to the Capitol today for the final three days of their fall session. Also unresolved are millions for projects and programs earmarked by lawmakers but slashed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich's veto pen.

The House voted to override him but, so far, the Senate and President Emil Jones Jr., a Chicago Democrat, are sticking with the governor.

And there's the soon-to-expire tax break for Cook County property owners. Blagojevich rejected a temporary extension, saying it should be permanent. Again, the House voted to override, but the Senate has been supportive of Blagojevich's version. If some agreement isn't reached, property owners end up with higher tax bills.

Key lawmakers say no one wants that and predict some deal will be struck this week.

Also mired in political gridlock is a financial fix for the cash-strapped transit agencies as a Nov. 4 deadline for fare hikes and route cuts approaches.