* We talked about the education budget a bit yesterday, but here’s a story that might knock your socks off. Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 Assistant Superintendent Mohsin Dada has received three 22 percent pay raises during his contract and now makes $341,747 a year, which is $60,000 more than his boss…

Dada, who did not return phone calls seeking comment, is considered by the board to be the district’s chief financial officer and is retiring at the end of this year. He received those big raises in 2007, 2008 and 2009, which allowed him to nearly double his 2005 salary of $177,111 within six years.

Dada’s 2010 salary also made him the third highest paid public school employee in the state. […]

Board members believe they got a bargain in Dada.

“The reality is District 54 would not have had a balanced budget for the last 15 years without someone like Mohsin,” said board Secretary Karen Strykowski, who also noted she wasn’t on the board at the time Dada’s contract was negotiated. “This is the largest elementary school district in Illinois with over 2,000 employees and 14,000 students. In the private sector he would be making twice as much.”

* More on the House’s proposed education budget cuts…

A key reduction the panel endorsed calls for general state aid for all schools to be cut by about 4 percent, one lawmaker said. […]

The education foundation level, the figure viewed as the minimum amount of per-pupil spending, would remain flat at about $6,119, Davis said. If more money comes in later, the state could boost school spending, he added.

Transportation funds would rise to $294 million from the current $270 million, a level that had been considerably lower than in prior years, Davis said.

And early childhood education funding would drop to $325 million come July 1, which is about a 5 percent reduction, Davis said.

* Local impact…

In the Springfield School District, a 4 percent reduction in state aid would cost the district about $1.4 million, said spokesman Pete Sherman.

“We’re already considering cuts to break as even as possible for our next fiscal year’s budget while at the same time going through collective bargaining with our teachers and other union employees,” Sherman said. “It’s a very challenging time as it is.”

The proposed budget would increase transportation spending, but the total is still less than was spent two years ago and less than the state Board of Education recommended.

* Meanwhile, Rep. Rosemary Mulligan denied a Daily Northwestern report yesterday that Human Services would be cut by 10 percent across the board. According to the Tribune, the House is looking to cut $368 million from the current human services budget…

Major cuts in the proposal include about $181 million from state operations and about $186 million in cuts to grants, such as social services that go to private organizations in communities throughout the state, she said.

Even so, many of the cuts Gov. Pat Quinn proposed for community-based substance abuse and mental health programs would see some money restored for their programs, she said. That move would represent a nod to the notion that prevention and treatment saves money in the long run.

Programs Quinn put on the chopping block for senior citizens, such as the circuit breaker program, would fare better with the House plan, Feigenholtz said. Another program at least partially saved from elimination would be Illinois Cares RX, she said. The programs have provided property tax relief and assistance in paying for prescription drugs.

One additional cost-savings move would cut even deeper than Quinn proposed for programs that pay for Medicaid services provided by doctors, hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies, she said.

* Charlie Wheeler has some pertinent comments…

Balancing the budget, however, means slashing spending in areas that require the most money, said Charlie Wheeler, a public affairs reporting professor at the University of Springfield in Illinois.

“(Human services) does not spend as much as Medicaid, but human services as a (whole) does indeed spend a lot of money,” said Wheeler. “If you want to save big bucks, you have to cut programs that cost big bucks. That’s sort of elementary.”

Human services accounts for about 36 percent of the entire House budget.

* The SJ-R has more on that study by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. COGFA looked at several spending and revenue scenarios over the next four years…

Only when spending was held flat would the state erase billions of red ink under the commission’s projections. However, that will prove difficult because of higher pension payments called for by a law designed to bring the systems to 90 percent funding by 2045, increased Medicaid costs and a desire by many lawmakers to spend more on items like education.

If the state spent $33.5 billion every year through fiscal year 2014, it would end up with a $3.5 billion operating budget surplus and a $2.1 billion overall surplus. The overall surplus is less because over the previous four fiscal years, the state would be gradually eliminating the $6.3 billion budget deficit it faced at the beginning of fiscal year 2011.

If spending increases were held to 2.7 percent annually, the state would still have an overall $3.4 billion deficit at the end of fiscal year 2014.

If spending were held to 4 percent increases each year, the state would have operating and overall deficits every year, including fiscal year 2012, which starts July 1.

* And then there’s this…

A state official warned that Illinois is at risk of losing at least $1 billion a year in federal Medicaid funds because of a legislative panel’s decision Tuesday on how senior citizens needing nursing-home care can shelter assets.

If not reversed, the decision by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules could prompt the federal government to deny Illinois between $1 billion and $7 billion in Medicaid funds, according to James Parker, a deputy administrator at the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. […]

On a 10-0 vote, JCAR stopped HFS’ proposed rules from taking effect Tuesday. The commission sided with opponents- including elder-law lawyers and senior groups - who said the provisions would penalize seniors and went beyond what is required to implement the federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. […]

The law shrinks loopholes that allow seniors to transfer assets to family members and friends and still qualify for Medicaid. Illinois and California are the last two states working to enact rules.

* Related…

* U of I pay hike a possibility: Hogan said the raise would be something below 4 percent under the best scenario — a 1 percent to 3 percent cut in the UI’s appropriation and no major new costs associated with pension reform or changes in health benefits.

* VIDEO: Rep. Mulligan on human services budget cuts

* Homer Glen opposes revenue cut for towns

* Different fates for 2 IL charity hospitals

* Education Bill Fight Puts Spotlight on Union Chief

* Editorial: What we know about Illinois budget woes is discouraging

* Editorial: Disputed budget figures part of state’s problem

* Editorial: Botched operation