State funding moves, but U-46 still in limbo
Gov. Rod Blagojevich last week acted on a long-awaited budget plan that would give an additional $560 million to Illinois schools.
But instead of breathing a collective sigh of relief, Elgin Area School District U-46 officials still are preparing for the worst.
Blagojevich chose to use his amendatory veto power on the plan, sending his changes back to be approved by the General Assembly.
The plan, as altered by the governor, was approved Wednesday by the Senate. But U-46 will not see any funds unless the plan is approved by both houses.
In the meantime, district officials said they must continue to cut expenditures on desks, chairs and other equipment and prepare two versions of this year's budget.
"We're confident that we can get through the school year (without the money), but we would continue to be on a pretty tight rope," said John Prince, the district's chief financial officer. "We would have to monitor our revenue very closely -- we can't allow ourselves to get back in to the red."
The state budget deal last summer was supposed to send millions to schools, increasing reimbursement for special education teachers' pay, assisting the state's most crowded schools and bumping up by $400 the guaranteed minimum spent on a child's education.
After an extended game of partisan Ping-Pong, the deal languished on the governor's desk until last week, before he shipped it back to the General Assembly.
Prince estimated that U-46 will receive between $3.5 million and $6 million from the original deal.
Depending on the House's actions, that now could change. It must also accept Blagojevich's changes "as is" for the funding to go through. If the House and Senate can't agree, then there will be no additional money for schools.
State aid to school districts is based on variables that include average daily attendance. School districts with higher levels of local resources receive less state aid and districts with fewer local resources collect more.
The guaranteed minimum spent on each child's public education -- a combination of federal, state and local resources -- is $5,334.
According to the Illinois State Board of Education, the state supplied U-46 with $1,727 per pupil for 2006-07. Once poverty head counts and other adjustments are made, the total general state aid for Elgin was $66,292,258 or $1,853.93 per child.
"If an amended deal rolls back that amount, that would create some anxiety," Prince said.
If, for instance, the formula were to stay at $5,334 per student or drop, the officials said the district would have to develop a kind of "cut list."
"It's a worst-case scenario, obviously, but we'd have to look at what all the places are where we can stop spending immediately that have the least amount of input on classroom instruction," Prince said.
They've already cut spending on classroom furniture, but school supplies, field trip money and even new teacher hires could all be affected if the drought continues into the 2008-09 school year.
Other area districts have already been affected in these areas.
"We had planned on the increase, so we're falling short on every payment we get," West Aurora Unit District 129 Assistant Superintendent for Finance Vickie Nissen told the Daily Herald last week. "This fiscal year has been a disaster for the district."
As the clock ticks, officials like Prince and Nissen said they feel increasingly helpless.
"This doesn't increase the comfort level to the general public that things are going to be managed soundly," Prince said. "We can't control these things, but at the same time we end up answering the questions from the taxpayers."