What state budget cuts mean for U-46 programs

The State Board of Education's recently approved budget would slash funding for a number of Elgin Area School District U-46 programs serving needy students.

District officials estimate that U-46 is losing about $3.2 million in state funding.

That amount, spokesman Tony Sanders said, will lead to cuts in the following programs:

• The district's early childhood education program will lose approximately $1.2 million.

• Bilingual education will see a $544,000 reduction.

• The school breakfast program will lose an estimated $500,000.

• The reading improvement program will lose $618,000.

• The district's alternative/optional education program will see a $159,000 reduction.

Smaller reductions likely will also occur in the district's summer bridge program for incoming high school students, teachers' national board certification, and arts and foreign language, Sanders indicated.

However, there has been talk that Gov. Pat Quinn may restore some funding to early childhood education programs.

"If the governor and the state board work together to restore that funding, it could be a little different of a picture even still," Sanders said.

The district's tentative $427 million budget, unveiled in March, assumed no increase in general state aid and flat lined property tax revenues. To balance out a $17 million increase in negotiated salary and benefits for union employees, the district eliminated the equivalent of 350 full-time positions this spring.

Sanders said Thursday that he hadn't seen any final budget numbers.

"I would think whatever is proposed, we'd have to do additional cuts to offset cuts in funding," he added.

The U-46 budget is set to be presented to the school board Aug. 17, and approved in mid-September.

With most classrooms already staffed and a new school year about to start, "it would be very difficult to do a reduction in force (at this time)," Sanders said.