State Budget Woes Continue

For those following the budget process this year you are aware that the General Assembly passed a budget several weeks ago and sent it to Governor Blagojevich. The Governor then promptly vetoed over $400 million dollars from the budget to use for his plan to provide increased access to health care for residents of Illinois. In the meantime, the BIMP (Budget Implementation Plan) that proposed an increase in funding for public education has not been passed. To further complicate the matter the Governor sued House Clerk, Mark Mahoney for not entering the veto message into the House minutes. Therefore, the question has become, will we ever see any of the funds that were included in the original budget or will it evaporate. Budget hearings called by Speaker Madigan continue around the state and have been well attended.

The dilemma for school districts is how to build a budget for FY 08, when you do not know what state revenues will be or when they might be received. School budgets must be adopted by September 25th. We will adopt a budget that does not depend on any increases in state support and be happy if any increases do come to fruition. Many school districts are not as fortunate and depend on funding from the state to operate. There has to be a better way to fund our schools!