Budget Showdown!

Wow, things are really not getting better for the state budget.  The governor and the legislature are at a stalemate, and it’s not clear when or how it’s going to get resolved.  The impact on the state’s education system is up in the air.

It looked like school funding reform was off the table for this year after the crushing defeat of the governor’s Gross Receipts Tax proposal.  But the IEA and IFT are still working with lawmakers on another proposal.  Said IEA president Ken Swanson, “It ain’t over till it’s over, and we don’t believe that the fight is over.”

Some groups are still fighting for a “tax swap” where a slight increase in income tax would allow for a decrease in school reliance on property taxes, the primary cause of school funding inequality in Illinois.  Vocally opposed to any general tax hike, the governor has already vowed to veto any plan involving a swap.  That leaves the most likely outcome to be “a simple bump in the numbers, which school officials say easily gets eaten away by rising costs.”

Meanwhile, Illinois school districts are left scrambling:

So far, area school officials say the slowdown hasn’t affected their revenue streams. But if legislators don’t approve a budget soon, some districts will enter the school year with very shaky numbers.

“I don’t think it allows us to pass our budget. We’re going to have to do something else unless we have firm numbers (from the state),” said Russell Pietrowiak, chairman of the East Aurora School Board’s finance committee. “(State funding) is too big of a chunk of our budget. It impacts our actual operation.”

This is a critical time.  If you’re interested in becoming more active on school funding reform, one very vocal group is A+ Illinois. They’re circulating a petition that churches and organizations can sign and encouraging everyone to call their representatives.

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