Legislative Session To Resume

The Illinois General Assembly is set to return to work next Wednesday, February 13, 2008 after a long break for the election held today. When they return, they will face many challenges all of which involve MONEY! The future of public education will continue to depend on how our legislators respond to these fiscal challenges.

One important item demanding attention from the legislature is that of developing a “Capital” plan. Such a plan would include money and programs for infrastructure work thorough the state including school construction projects. It is hard to comprehend that there are still school districts in Illinois that were awarded construction grants to repair or build new facilities in 2002 that have not been paid. In the meantime, local taxpayers are borrowing money to pay for loans to cover the shortages caused by the failure to get the promised funds. Several of these impacted districts are right here in DuPage County. There is also a large amount of federal matching funds that will be lost to our state if the legislature fails to act in time.

The Illinois State Board of Education adopted its 2009 budget recommendation last month which may signal a slowing of funding for public education. It is expected that Governor Blagojevich will address the legislature on February 20th and support this plan which does not increase the General State Aid formula as dramatically as in the past, but does increase funding for mandated categoricals by a substantial amount. This increase would be beneficial to most DuPage County schools.

How the General Assembly will fund these requests is another issue. This year's budget was funded, in part, by line item budget cuts and veto reductions made by Governor Blagojevich. The real pressure point is that of funding pensions for state employees. Legislators will need to find and additional $1.4 billion to make pension payments before any other budget increases are possible. This will be a session filled with pressure and tension as our representatives try to work through these serious issues.