Stimulus funding produces little education excitement
SPRINGFIELD - When Illinois learned it would get $3 billion in federal stimulus money for education spending, it was easy to envision classrooms across the state getting new resources and perhaps local taxpayers catching a break.
Instead, schools are barely breaking even in the new state budget and are arguably lucky to do so in this economic climate.
"I'm not thrilled, but it keeps the doors open," said state Rep. Suzie Bassi, a Palatine Republican who serves on the House education budget committee.
The $3 billion in federal aid for schools will help boost the minimum amount the state requires public schools to spend on a student's education by $161 to $6,120, far less than education advocates want but a reflection of the tight budget times.
No public school in Illinois gets that full amount per student from the state. A complex formula takes into account how much is raised by local property taxes and then the state fills in any difference to get schools up to the guaranteed minimum. The problem for many suburban districts is their local property values are so high they don't qualify for this formula and get funding through a less generous system.
This budget does fully fund state reimbursement for special education programs and other state-mandated services. But that funding is based on last year's amounts, and critics have long argued the figures are antiquated and come nowhere near covering the real costs.
So any increases in from last year to this year will need to be covered by local districts.
Still, education fares better than a lot of other areas of the state budget. The state's $26 billion operating budget approved this week will need to be trimmed by at least another $1 billion, likely in the form of layoffs and agency reserves.
Education, like health care, gets some protection in that if the state cut funding below previous levels, it jeopardizes the federal stimulus funding. However, the end result is those stimulus dollars are largely used to maintain the status quo, not supplement existing school programs.
Of the $3 billion in federal stimulus dollars steered toward education, $1 billion goes toward specific programs and the remaining $2 billion is to stabilize the education budget so there aren't cuts.
"It would have been nice if we could start new programs, but there's a reason it's called 'stabilization,' " said Mary Fergus, a spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education.
Bassi warned taxpayers and school districts that the budget won't be stabilized if the economy doesn't quickly turnaround.
"We are going to be looking at an unbelievable hole in two years when the (stimulus) money runs out," Bassi said. "We're going to have to go back to the drawing board quite soon."
Lawmakers debated tax increases this year, but an income and sales tax plan that cleared the Senate was never taken up by the House. A temporary tax increase was voted down by the House.
Unable to agree on higher taxes or deeper cuts, lawmakers ultimately supported borrowing billions and delaying paying billions worth of payments to vendors to make this year's budget balanced. But another multibillion dollar deficit looms in the near future and Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, said the tax increase debate will renew in January.