State education leaders to discuss additional spending cuts
State education leaders thought they'd submitted a lean budget proposal to the General Assembly earlier this year, but now it looks like they'll have to cut closer to the bone.
Members of the Illinois State Board of Education will talk today about ways to slice roughly $400 million from the proposed education budget. The new cuts, which would not affect general state aid or mandated services like special education, were made necessary by the state budget lawmakers approved last month, officials say.
The necessary cuts amount to roughly 50 percent of nonmandated programming expenses.
Board members are prepared to look at everything. Early childhood programs, for which the state board had proposed a $12.5 million increase, could take a hit. Bilingual education is another possible victim; the board had requested a net increase of $7.9 million for this service.
Myriad other programs could be affected - teacher mentoring programs, after-school activities, a new data system for tracking student performance.
"Really, anything that isn't mandated is on the table at this point," state board spokesman Matt Vanover said.
The state's fiscal year begins on July 1. In January, the state board gave the General Assembly a budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2010 that totaled $9.97 billion, an increase of 1.8 percent over the previous year. The General Revenue Fund, which covers most operating expenses, was 2.3 percent higher.
The proposed budget included an additional $114 million in general state aid, and it fully funded all of the state's mandated services. Neither would be affected by new cuts.
Vanover said the board will probably listen to testimony from various groups about the potential programming cuts during today's meeting in Springfield. Vanover said he didn't expect the board to take any action.
"My guess is that they'd wait to see if the legislature changes anything between now and July 1," he said. "If it looks like that won't be happening, the board would take some action later."
Adding more financial pressure on the state board is a provision in the General Assembly's budget plan that essentially forbids the board from hiring contractors to perform certain services. The state currently has more than $37 million in contracts for such items as the interactive school report card Web site and maintenance of computer servers, according to the June 9 weekly message from State Superintendent Christopher Koch.
State board members hope this restriction will be lifted before July 1.