Local schools contending with state's new unfunded mandates

Suburban school districts are on a seesaw they can't control.

In recent weeks, they've been forced to adopt more than a dozen brand-new unfunded state education mandates. At the same time, funds are dwindling.

Officials aren't bemoaning mandatory testicular cancer education, radon testing, dating violence education, cell phone restrictions and disability awareness, among other new rules.

What has them bugged is the totality of them - and all without accompanying money - during a nightmarish budget year.

"Do we agree that people should not have the ability to text-message while you're driving through a school zone? Absolutely. Is it good to teach students about testicular cancer? Sure," Elgin Area School District U-46 spokesman Tony Sanders said. "But when you put them all together, it's more work for school districts without any corresponding funding."

The new mandates come as a rise in foreclosures, massive lags in state aid and a low inflation rate that diminishes tax increases have put districts in Cook, Lake, McHenry, Kane and DuPage counties in the red.

They also come months after a resolution sponsored by state Rep. Roger Eddy calling for a review of unfunded mandates got stuck in a rules committee, disappointing educators who'd thrown support behind a fix.

Along with asking legislators to support the resolution last fall, U-46 Superintendent Jose Torres has also asked the state Senate's Committee on Deficit Reduction for limits on the number of unfunded mandates.

U-46's budget deficit is $48.6 million. Officials plan to cut a whopping $40 million from next year's budget.

According to Torres, unfunded mandates - including early retirement options for teachers, purchasing environmentally friendly cleaning supplies and lower emissions standards for school buses - made up nearly $12 million of his district's $350 million education fund budget last year.

The district's Citizens Advisory Council on Feb. 12 hosted a forum that focused specifically on unfunded mandates. State Sen. Michael Noland and Reps. Randy Ramey, Keith Farnham and Paul Froehlich attended.

Legislators, like district officials and parents, agreed that the host of mandates were a problem but offered few solutions.

Maine Township High School District 207, along with dozens of other suburban districts, belongs to the education lobbying group Education Research Development (EDRED). "We fund them (the group) just for these kinds of issues," Superintendent Ken Wallace said. "... There is no bigger football than public education."

District 207 projects to be $19 million in the red next year, and earlier this month approved $15 million in cuts, including laying off 75 teachers by year's end.

In mid-December, Eddy went to bat again, filing legislation that, if approved, would allow districts to get around complying with certain unfunded mandates with a school board's vote.

The legislation would not apply to special education, transportation, lunch programs or coursework required for high school graduation.

Bensenville Elementary District 2 Associate Superintendent James Stelter, along with representatives from Addison Elementary District 4, Wood Dale Elementary District 7 and Fenton High School District 100, met with state Rep. Dennis Reboletti in mid-January to voice their concerns regarding unfunded mandates.

District 2, which made $843,000 in budget cuts for the 2009-10 school year, is "well aware of Eddy's proposal," spokeswoman Terry Ryan said. "So much of the budget you don't have any control over. Between unfunded mandates and labor contracts, there's not enough left."

Diane Hendren, the Illinois Association of School Administrators' government relations director, said her organization hopes the new legislation will get bipartisan support.

With the state board of education having preliminary 2011 budget discussions, Hendren says, the association is "very concerned. We thought this might be the time to talk about the unfunded mandates, actually get this moving."

"This is something that is not going to cost the state any money," Hendren said.

But after a first reading Jan. 4, the legislation is, like the resolution, now in a committee.

Eddy says he's hopeful that either the resolution or the bill will get passed, but he's also cognizant of the fact that legislators are now in election mode.

"It's going to make a lot of people feel blamed for voting for unfunded mandates in the past," he said. "In an election year, (legislators) don't want to identify with bills they've voted for that are unfunded. It's sad. We're all a little bit too worried about that."

District 207's Wallace called it "disconcerting to see the level of gamesmanship" going on in state politics, but he said: "I've gotten over being surprised anymore. It's all about positioning people and the next election and that kind of thing. And that's unfortunate."