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* UPDATED x1 - Maybe not * Today’s number: 5 months

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Schools in Illinois, on average, could stay open for five months without state funding, a recent survey by the Illinois Association of School Administrators found.

The possibility of schools shuttering continued to linger after state lawmakers on Tuesday evening, in the final hours of the spring legislative session, failed to reach a deal on a K-12 education-spending bill. […]

Even though they could open, [Mike Chamness, IASA’s director of communications] emphasized the consequences would still be devastating.

“If you spend all your reserves to stay open for five months, those reserves would not be replenished and at that point in time you would have no safety net whatsoever,” he said.

Yep. That very same thing has already happened to social service providers and higher education institutions.

*** UPDATE *** From the IASA…

Rich,

I wanted to clarify that the survey we did at IASA was an informal survey in our magazine. While the 5 month average might or might not be truly be representative of the statewide situation, I wanted to make it clear that we have districts from one end of the spectrum of not being able to open to the other end of districts that can survive the whole year but then might have no safety net remaining. Obviously, the districts most dependent on state aid are impacted the most. The closer we get to August, the more troublesome the scenarios become, financially and logistically, for schools. We realize that the ongoing budget impasse has had real consequences and suffering for innocent people. We would hope that common sense will prevail and the 2.1 million children who attend public schools in Illinois would not be used as political bargaining chips by either side.

Thanks.

Michael Chamness
IASA Director of Communications

Turns out, this was just an online survey. Not exactly scientific.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 11:47 am

Comments

Rauner:The Democrats are holding things up by not passing the Turnaround Agenda. Clearly not my fault!/s

Comment by DuPage Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 11:54 am
=“If you spend all your reserves to stay open for five months, those reserves would not be replenished and at that point in time you would have no safety net whatsoever,” he said.

Yep. That very same thing has already happened to social service providers and higher education institutions.=

This has been the plan by Madigan’s and the governor’s he’s controlled plan for three decades. /s

Comment by Qui Tam Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 11:56 am
This is all Rauner’s fault. Before he took office this state was solvent.

Comment by Milo Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 11:57 am
Before Rauner there was never an issue of our schools and universities opening. I will beat Ow.The gov owns the budget and owns no school come fall. Vote accordingly.

Comment by illinois manufacturer Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 12:04 pm
Feature not Bug

Comment by Honeybear Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 12:35 pm
I had wondered why the state made my school district open their books for audit a couple of months ago. I’m sure now it was to gauge this outside of the informal survey done by this group. I’m certain this was the plan.

Feature Not Bug

Comment by Honeybear Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 12:49 pm
This is what Rauner wants.

Purvis, apparently, concurs.

Feature not bug.

Comment by Formerly Known as Frenchie M Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 12:53 pm
All school districts funds (books) are audited by the State Board of Ed. and have been for many years.

Comment by Mama Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 12:56 pm
“…I wanted to make it clear that we have districts from one end of the spectrum of not being able to open to the other end of districts that can survive the whole year but then might have no safety net remaining.”

How many IL Schools Districts answered their survey?

I would be willing to bet money that most of the schools would not last 5 months without a budget.

Comment by Mama Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 1:00 pm
Crisis creates leverage. Where better to start the squeeze than on innocent school kids and their taxpaying families? A deliberate plan. Also fits well with demonizing those that deliver this important service, the teachers.

Comment by AnonymousOne Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 1:02 pm
Another thing to consider is that, similar to social service providers and higher education employees, teachers can’t wait until August/September to know whether they will have a job for the upcoming school year. If they need to find new employment (either due to cuts or non-opening), they need to be applying to other jobs now. Another reason to avoid last minute summer appropriation for K-12.

Comment by TD Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 1:17 pm
I have a feeling we will be seeing more private Pre-K thru 12 charter schools in place of public schools in our future with Rauner.

Comment by Mama Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 1:22 pm
Not scientific, but I think it is a fair takeaway that, absent state funding, there would be a steady trickle of school closings that would be absolutely brutal.

Comment by SAP Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 2:00 pm
=I had wondered why the state made my school district open their books for audit a couple of months ago. I’m sure now it was to gauge this outside of the informal survey done by this group.=

The ISBE randomly selects districts for an audit. District are typically audited every 3-5 years by the state unless there are serious fiscal issue or irregularities in a district.

District hire an auditing company to conduct an annual audit. The audit findings are reported to the ISBE.

=I would be willing to bet money that most of the schools would not last 5 months without a budget.=

As Mike Chamness stated, it was an informal survey intended to give them a rough idea of where district were at. I would guess 1/2 to 2/3 of districts were represented.

Probably not a good bet on your estimate though. If “most” represents 51% I would say that number is lower, closer to 30%. Still bad, no question about that.

Several years ago the Quinn administration looked at the reserves of Illinois schools and found that the statewide total was several billion (I do not remember the actual total). Many of us have suspected that they would try to bleed us down as a way of reducing the states responsibility.

As it turns out, our suspicions are more true than we understood at the time.

The reason schools establish reserves are many, but the biggest one is a lack of trust for the state. I think that position has been vindicated.

Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 2:03 pm
Our illustrious Gov. would like nothing but charter schools. Systematically do away with public education.

Comment by Big foot Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 2:43 pm
I’m a former superintendent of schools and try to stay fairly well informed after state and school matters. If you want to know how much cash your local school district has on hand, go to http://webprod1.isbe.net/finprofile/profile.aspx.

My experience leads me to agree with JS Mill. Many local school boards do not trust the State to be reliable with school funding. The last six years show that stance to be correct.

From my conversations with friends, I believe Illinois citizens can count on school superintendents to cautiously recommend that school boards weigh the wisdom of opening school doors in August if a state budget for K-12 education is not in place.

Maybe that is the crisis sought by our State’s political leaders?

Comment by Diogenes in DuPage Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 4:04 pm
Merry Christmas

Comment by Liberty Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 4:10 pm
“District hire an auditing company to conduct an annual audit. The audit findings are reported to the ISBE.”

When did it change from ISBE auditing the school districts to the school district’s hiring their own auditors? I know for a fact ISBE use to have staff that did nothing but audit school funds around the state. I was not aware that changed. Sorry.

Comment by Mama Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 4:17 pm
@Mama- that hasn’t changed in the time I have been a superintendent.

I have been in this business for the better part of 20 years and in that time every district I have worked for has contracted it’s own auditor to create an Annual Financial Report (AFR/Audit).

The state still has auditors, but a lot of them are “consultants” and are contracted not employed by the ISBE. They still audit districts, just not every district, every year.

Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Jun 2, 16 @ 4:27 pm
==This is all Rauner’s fault. Before he took office this state was solvent.==

Forgot to add ==/s== ?

Comment by Formerly Known As... Friday, Jun 3, 16 @ 3:26 am