In the most austere budget for education in years, Illinois schools will lose $176 million in state money for everything from special education and gifted-student programs to school safety and lunches for poor children.
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Officials say an infusion of federal education funds will offset some of the state cuts, and local property-tax increases will make up the rest.
Even educators allowed that it could have been worse, given the state’s financial crisis.
“I think clearly we should credit the governor and lawmakers for trying to spare schools to the extent possible from the pain of a difficult budget year,” said State Board of Education spokesman Lee Milner. “At the same time, clearly, the effect of this budget will be felt in every district.”
The cuts extend to public universities and college students as well. The three University of Illinois campuses will receive about $89 million less in the new budget than this year. The main campus Urbana-Champaign will absorb about a $42 million hit, officials said.
Urbana-Champaign campus officials said layoffs are likely, including a reduction of up to 85 faculty posts. A $38 million cut in financial aid funds will affect all colleges and universities in the state. (This paragraph as published has been corrected in this text.)
“It’s going to be a challenge to deliver the range of courses we want, but we’re committed to delivering courses that will allow people to graduate on time,” said William Murphy, a spokesman for the flagship university.
At the primary and secondary schools, the fate of individual districts will depend on a host of factors.
For example, some 175 districts with high concentrations of poor children, such as Chicago, will benefit from increases in poverty grants approved by lawmakers.
Still, Chicago Public Schools officials said they expect to lose $11 million from other programs as a result of deadline budget wrangling in Springfield, on top of $22 million in state cuts the system had anticipated.
Wednesday, Chicago officials were blaming those cuts for a $57 million property-tax increase they said is needed to balance the school budget. Schools chief Arne Duncan, appearing before the City Council, said Illinois has a “historic pattern of underfunding education.”
Mayor Richard Daley, who has boasted about keeping a lid on city property taxes, endorsed the increase for schools. Raising taxes, “is what you have to do, unfortunately,” he said. “Otherwise, what are you going to do, shut the school down?”
Across the state, hundreds of school districts have been struggling with deficits, and dozens have failed to persuade voters to approve tax increases for schools. As a result, they have been cutting programs, dipping into reserves and raising fees.
The state cuts come at a time when Illinois is already ranked 48th in the nation in the portion of public school funding that comes from the state. Illinois relies largely on local property taxes to fund schools.
The 2003 state budget will deliver $176 million less for classroom use than it did this year, according to the State Board of Education. That total affects programs such as teacher training, transportation, reading improvement and financial incentives for districts that consolidate with other districts. The state cuts ranged from about 3.5 percent to 10 percent per program.
However, by calculating in rising property-tax contributions, lawmakers maintained general aid per student at $4,560.
Lawmakers were required to add $111 million to the schools budget for teacher pension costs. That meant the state saved only $53 million on education, despite the much larger cuts in the classroom, according to the state board.
Educators say the one bright spot of the budget, not counted in the cuts, is $500 million in new bonds for school construction.
Also cushioning the blow, the federal government is expected to give an additional $316 million to Illinois school districts in targeted programs.
For example, new federal dollars are expected for bilingual programs, so a state cut in that area will likely be offset, said State Rep. Julie Curry (D-Mt. Zion), chairwoman of the House budget committee for K-12 schools. The federal government is also expected to pour millions into the state for reading initiatives, she said, so that will help offset the state cuts.
The net result varies from district to district.
In Wheaton-Warrenville District 200, officials are reeling from an anticipated $2 million loss in state money, which includes about $1.5 million in general aid and $500,000 in grant programs.
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But state Sen. Steven Rauschenberger (R-Elgin), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in light of the state’s $1.4 billion budget shortfall, “This is a good budget for education. … In a very, very difficult budget year, we didn’t use the schools to balance the other problems of the state budget.”