Hoping to cut red tape in the way the state delivers money to schools, Gov. George Ryan said Monday he wants to shift almost $500 million from grant programs administered by the Illinois State Board of Education and send the money directly to school districts around the state.
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The Ryan plan would take money distributed through 22 grant programs and deliver it instead as general state aid, which is divided up under a formula favoring poorer districts and comes with fewer strings.
The net effect would be to increase the minimum per-pupil spending level for school districts from $4,560 now to $5,000–the highest ever and $320 more per student than the State Board of Education had recommended for the coming year.
It is difficult to gauge the financial impact on individual districts because the initiative would increase general aid to many districts while decreasing money they get for targeted programs.
Ryan did not specify which grants he planned to eliminate. But his spokesman, Dennis Culloton, said among those that could be affected are grants that fund programs in reading, science, bilingual education, career development and vocation education.
Culloton said Ryan would preserve grants for the Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora and for continuing education for teachers, and he would ask for new money to underwrite a universal preschool program.
In a speech in Decatur, Ryan also said that, despite hard economic times, he will keep his pledge to devote 51 percent of new state revenues to job training and elementary, secondary and higher education when he outlines his fiscal 2003 budget on Wednesday.
“It’s no secret that the state budget for next year is going to present us with many, many tough challenges because of the economic downturn this nation experienced after the tragedy of Sept. 11,” Ryan said. “Despite the recession our country is facing, these problems will not stop me from making our children the state’s top priority.”
Education spending aside, Ryan’s budget is expected to be one of the bleakest overall in recent state history. Administration officials say Ryan will call for a reduction of 3,800 positions in the state payroll through layoffs, attrition and early retirement, as well as the closure of two state prisons and closing some or part of institutions for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled in Peoria and Rockford.
After slashing nearly $500 million in spending from the current state budget, Ryan is expected to propose cutting another $500 million in services and programs in the new fiscal year.
Ryan’s plan would give schools more flexibility over how to spend state money, said Kim Knauer, a spokeswoman for the state board.
“Rather than only being able to spend it within a few set guidelines, you can do pretty much with it whatever you need to do,” said Knauer. “You can use it to supplement teacher salaries or teacher aide salaries or whatever you need to improve instruction.”
As Ryan prepares to detail his budget, he is considering shutting down the Zeller Mental Health Center in Peoria, as well as some or all of the unit for the developmentally disabled at Singer Mental Health and Developmental Center in Rockford, administration sources said. The downsizing of the Lincoln Developmental Center, which Ryan announced recently, also figures into his cost-savings plans.
Administration sources have said Ryan is also expected to announce closure of the minimum-security Vienna Correctional Center and the Illinois Youth Center in west suburban Valley View.
Ryan’s budget anticipates cost savings from the privatization of some prison services. As part of its first phase, the Department of Corrections opened bids last week from a food contractor that could save the state millions of dollars by replacing full-time prison employees who supervise inmate food preparation with private employees.
Aramark Correctional Food Service Inc., based in Oak Brook, presented the only bid for services in the prison system’s District 3, a broad area covering about 10 prisons including Dwight and Pontiac.
As many as 150 state employees could lose their jobs in that district alone, but the state would save about $6 million a year, said Sergio Molina, prison spokesman.
Officials also estimated as many as 540 prison workers could lose their jobs, and the state could save between $22 million and $28 million if the plan were adopted statewide.