Public School Funding Sees $241 Million Cut (IL)

July 2, 2010

Gov. Pat Quinn slashed $241 million in public school funding Thursday, reducing financial support for student busing, reading programs and textbook loans.

Spending for transportation fell by $84 million, or 24 percent. The $68.5 million for reading improvement grants was canceled completely. And the state education agency saw its administrative budget trimmed by 8 percent.

The news wasn’t all bad, however.

Quinn maintained the current level of funding for general state aid, the money that flows directly to school districts based on student enrollments, as well as for special education and early childhood programs.

"It could have been much worse," said Jesse Ruiz, chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education. "Things that are direct services to students, things that are direct services in the classroom, I think those cuts were minimized. I’m grateful."

What’s more, he said, the governor restored nearly $59 million in school funding out of $300 million that the education board cut from its spending plan last week, based on an earlier budget draft.

As a result, the Chicago Alternative Schools Network saw most of its funding restored for the coming year. Quinn allocated $3.2 million for the organization that serves about 850 students a year, director Jack Wu est said. That’s down 10 percent from a year ago, but less than the expected cut.

Education advocates and local school officials are hurrying to understand what Quinn’s budget will mean for the next school year. School districts still face a $1.3 billion backlog of unpaid bills from the state for the fiscal year that ended Wednesday, according to a spokeswoman with the Illinois comptroller’s office.