When Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich delivered his $53 billion budget address last Wednesday, state officials and Evanston/Skokie District 65 administrators began to worry about his proposed $140 million increase for education funding.
“There was a lot of talk about doing better for our schools,” said District 65 school board member and finance committee chairwoman Mary Erickson. “The governor has not followed through on the tone he set back when he was running for office.”
The governor’s proposed increase is the smallest in three years. The total also is significantly less than the 51 percent of state revenue he had promised to give to schools during his 2002 campaign.
The current budget allots an increase of $87 per student. In the 2003-04 school year, the budget increased per-student education by $250, then dipped to a $154 increase this year. Blagojevich had promised to devote $250 for each student during his campaign in 2002.
“The governor is proposing an increase of $140 million and it’s a tight fiscal time in the state of Illinois,” said Becky Watts, the spokeswoman for the state education board. “It’s remarkable that given the times, he is still offering (that much).”
District 65 officials said they will have to rearrange their funding because they anticipated a $100 increase per student.
“The thing is that you have to live within the budget,” Erickson said.
District 65 Chief Financial Officer Ed White said the district is most troubled about the ability to provide state money for categorical programs like special education.
Erickson said the district’s special education programs already are experiencing problems.
“(The district) is grossly underfunded by the state in terms of special education,” Erickson said. “If they’re taking any money away (from the program), it will make the situation worse.”
But state officials said they do plan on revising the Blagojevich’s budget to further meet the needs of districts statewide. State Sen. Jeff Schoenberg, D-Evanston, said that as state appropriations chairman, he will fight for additional school funding above the level provided in Blagojevich’s proposal.
“Spending pressures have made it difficult for the governor’s initial government proposal to do more for classroom spending,” Schoenberg said. “It’s absolutely essential that we raise that level significantly.”
Reach Kate Ward at [email protected].
