Thoughts on March 1st

Not much has happened in Springfield during the past two weeks. Rumors abound regarding Governor Quinn and his plans to save us from financial ruin. Personally, I am not sure how much will get done with all of the hype and rhetoric still going on about Senator Burris and whether or not he should be our Senator. Personally I don't have time to ponder that issue. I am more interested in the financial issues and their impact on the operation of our school district. Since we have not been receiving our normal payments for various types of state aid for the past couple of months there can be no doubt that the State is obviously out of money to pay for all of the programs it must support. My concern is what if any portion of their obligations will the State pay and when. Illinois has a long history of using a technique that is called proration in times where funds are tight. Proration allows the state to tally up the funds available (regardless of what they owe) and issue entities a proportionate share of the original appropriation based on what is available and call the obligation paid in full. This obviously leaves many public entities struggling to survive. If this pattern continues and no additional revenues are identified and put into place we will all be in serious financial trouble.

There is still a great deal of talk about tax increases both in the motor fuel tax and the State income tax. The Governor has not taken a public position on either of these issues to this date. The State needs to generate money to begin a capital development program to increase jobs and increase the flow of federal funds into our state. I hope some agreement is reached soon. The flow of Recovery Act Federal Aid into the state is still not fully explained and depending on the restrictions and how much money sticks to the hands of our politicians may or may not be be helpful for all of us. Nevertheless, some decisions are obviously being made and we will all hear about them when the Governor delivers his budget address to the General Assembly on March 18th.

In terms of good news we have been informed that Prairieview and Lakeview have received the Academic Excellence Award – 2008 Illinois Honor Roll based on student performance on ISAT and other measures. I salute our principals, teachers, staff, students and parents for this award by the Illinois State Board of Education.

The Elizabeth Ide PTO also held their annual Snowflake Ball last Saturday night at Ide and it was a huge success and most enjoyable for the students and parents who attended. Thanks to the many volunteers who make this event possible.

ISAT testing begins this week in grades 3 through 8. Students have been well prepared by their teachers for these tests and I expect that our students will continue do well on these tests as they have in past years.

Have a good week.