Elgin Area School District U-46 seeks a bigger slice of the pie
Remember when you were a kid and dividing a candy bar never quite seemed fair? How you always felt that someone got the bigger half?
Something similar's going on downstate, as a bill that would help Elgin Area School District U-46 recoup state funding is awaiting Gov. Pat Quinn's signature.
State Superintendent Christopher Koch wrote in board members' budget packets that General State Aid could be prorated - divided differently, because of Senate Bill 2499.
"If the Governor signs this bill approximately $22 million in additional GSA funding will be needed for Elgin Unit District U-46. This would require GSA to be prorated."
U-46 officials believe the district is losing out on millions in state aid each year by being designated a predominantly Kane County school district, though most of the district's taxable property has been in Cook County since 2004.
District officials contend the legislation simply would cause the state to slice the educational funding pie differently and would make U-46 "whole" again.
"This isn't money that is being created. This is money that belongs to the district that's been going somewhere else for a long time," said State Rep. Keith Farnham, the legislation's House sponsor told me earlier this week. "It belongs here. It has belonged here all along. That's why it passed overwhelmingly."
The "limiting rate" - the maximum property tax rate allowed under the suburban property tax cap law - determines the amount of local funding a school district gets. If it is overestimated, it appears the district will receive more in local property taxes than it actually does, and the state delivers less funding.
This school year, district officials calculated they should have netted $69.7 million in general state aid. But with Kane County working as the dominant and estimating county, U-46 will get only $58.3 million.
The state board gave U-46 a $7.1 million "administrative fix" this year to help deal with the shortfall. U-46 officials considered that money an acknowledgment that something was amiss.
The legislation that would provide a permanent solution by forcing the state board to readjust the limiting rate once the actual rate becomes available - and adjust general state aid payments - was filed early this year by State Sen. Michael Noland, an Elgin Democrat. It passed the Senate with a 40-15 vote in March and the House with a 113-0-1 vote in late April.
State board of education has never thrown support behind the legislation.
"The concern is the rates used (in the legislation) would not be accurate because they're based on estimated data," spokeswoman Mary Fergus said in late April. "This bill does not address the 83 other districts with overlapping counties that are tax capped."
Quinn, by law, has 60 days to sign the bill.
It's been just over 30.
Quinn said Monday he plans to release details of the state's budget today. But the financial picture is gloomy, at best.
The state is now more than $1.3 billion behind in payments to schools. And the Illinois State Board of Education moved to cut $300 million from next year's K-12 budget last week.
"In a sense, this bill is my baby," Noland said. "I've told the school board and (State Rep.) Keith Farnham, unless we have the revenue to fund it, it's really a blank check at that point. I understand the governor's trepidation. He's looking at having to take from other school districts. Truth be told, these are school districts that have taken from U-46 over the years. He's caught in a quandary."