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This time it’s the schools

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Illinois

* The actual cut made to programs yesterday by the State Board of Education was $389 million. But keep in mind that the General Assembly had already approved an increase in the foundation level by $160 per student (about a 2.7 percent increase) and a hike in categorical spending. Most of that was due to the federal stimulus program.

Still, those program cuts, taken individually, look harsh…

Taking the biggest hit was early childhood education, which lost $123 million. The action “rolls back about five years of progress'’ and means an estimated 30,000 children will lose preschool services this fall, said Sean Noble of Voices for Illinois Children.

All state money for gifted education was “zeroed out,'’ along with dollars for two after-school programs — one of them started by the wife of Mayor Daley.

Efforts to help the blind and dyslexic, teacher recruitment in hard-to-staff schools, high school students taking Advanced Placement classes and teachers who earn rigorous national certification all took whacks.

More…

A $6 million, or 33 percent, cut to alternative and safe schools, which serve former dropouts and students who have been suspended and expelled.[…]
* Elimination of $3 million state funding for the education of homeless children.
* A $19 million, or 25 percent, cut to programs for English language learners.
* A $1.8 million, or 50 percent, cut to Grow Your Own, which pays for career changers from low-income and high-minority neighborhoods to acquire education degrees.

More…

In all, $272 million worth of grant-funded initiatives — including after-school programs, gifted education, and rural technology instruction — were wiped out. And funding for mental health services and mentoring for principals, teachers, and aspiring educators (such as the Grow Your Own program) were either halved or eliminated all together.

More…

But even some relatively strong districts are concerned.

Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 President Karen Strykowski said responding to the action would be a stretch. District 54 staff estimated that the decision would cut between $1 million and $1.4 million from the coming year’s budget, and particularly affect reading improvement, early childhood and bilingual programs.

Because the district can no longer reverse its decision to add staff in these areas for the year ahead, the cuts will have to be made in other areas, Strykowski said.

The full list is here.

* And it’s only gonna get worse next year…

State School Superintendent Christopher Koch warned that without additional revenues, next year’s education budget picture would be even bleaker. That’s because $1 billion in federal economic stimulus money is being used in this year’s budget, but it won’t be available again.

* Interesting advice…

[State Board of Education Chairman Jesse Ruiz] told representatives of the state’s politically powerful teachers unions to be careful how they dole out campaign cash to candidates.

“Give it to a school before you give it to a candidate,” Ruiz said.

Thoughts?

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 6:37 am

Comments

Problem is the Teachers get more ROI out of contributions to politicians. The ‘be careful’ advice is apt, however. Teacher’s unions gave about $500K to Citizen Blag in 2002. I don’t think he ever did anything for them

Comment by Bobs yer Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 6:49 am
==That’s because $1 billion in federal economic stimulus money is being used in this year’s budget, but it won’t be available again.==

Were Governors all around the country not screaming loud enough about this well known flaw in the Federal Stimulus?

Government cannot just throw money at a wall year after year. It needs an actual plan not a piece of legislation bull rushed up the Hill and back.

Comment by Brennan Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 6:53 am
Damn good advice from Ruiz.

Comment by Deep South Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 8:36 am
The point of the one time stimulus money was to stimulate the economy by saving and creating jobs, not to infinitely provide fed funding for state functions and all of the governors knew it. The four goofballs who turned down the money for their states were castigated for it by their constituents.
It is not the fault of the stimulus package that in Illinois we are misusing it to avoid paying for the services the state provides. Republicans better enjoy their hero status among the greedy because it will be short lived. The need will be exponentially greater for the next fiscal year.

Comment by Bill Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 8:39 am
my school open up on the last week of august

Comment by mark the ball Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 8:41 am
As the world economy changes the best chance for us as a nation to maintain our status is to treat our knowledge and education as a resource; our best resource for the future. Right now we are getting the big fail.

Instead of complaining that jobs are being outsourced to india (which has heavily invested in educating its population) we need to make knowledge and learning our forte.

These kinds of education setbacks cause all kinds of untold damage to our future; from keeping kids out of the cycle of violence and gang activity, to nurturing gifted minds which may someday invent/discover all types of useful things.

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 8:42 am
By the way, since he brought it up, maybe someone should check into Jesse’s political contributions as well as his firm’s and Comed’s and Exelon’s. I’ve heard that board chairmanships weren’t exactly free back in the day.

Comment by Bill Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 8:54 am
I suppose it’s safe to assume that the $123 millon in early childhood education assumes that the $1 million from the Loop Lab School will also not be coming back and available.

Were you ever able to find out which attorney’s client trust account that money flowed into before magically disappearing in the condo office -sale from Rezko’s federal informant friend.

Inquiring minds still want to know.

Comment by Quinn T. Sential Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 8:58 am
Note to the Rev. Jesse Jackson:

Sir, it would appear to me that the special place in Hell you felt the Burr Oak Cemetery perps deserve will need to be shared by those gutless legislators who would rather ruin the lives of the children of Illinois than raise the lowest flat-rate individual income tax in the nation.

Comment by fedup dem Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 9:00 am
I would have doled out different political advice. Frankly, all of the political contributions of all of the teachers unions are a drop-in-the-bucket compared to the overall education funding gap in this state.

Best selling business author Jim Collins always suggests that every organization’s To-Do-List be mirrored by a Not-To-Do List.

Collins points out that there’s no point making a New Year’s Resolution to exercise more if you don’t also make a resolution to watch less t.v.

So here’s my advice to the teacher’s unions, AFSCME, social service agencies and advocates:

“Reward good behavior.”

and

“Don’t reward bad behavior.”

We spend alot of time debating what lawmakersand the governor should be doing on this blog — maybe a good QOTD would be offering up a Not-To-Do-List for them?

Comment by Yellow Dog Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 9:17 am
Negotiated agreements (contracts) exist throughout the system. The largest part of your tax bill is education. Guess where it will shift? Guess where the next “panic/threat” will occur?
I spent nearly 12 years as Board member, never once raising tax rate during the 90’s. You just have to find other things to remove from budget and hold firm through open communication to both public and teacher associations. It CAN be done!

Comment by Lisle Mike Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 9:22 am
Next year is going to be rough.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 9:24 am
there already were cuts in the proposed Quinn budget for education - such as the dropping of the textbook loan program that supplied new learning materials for students all across the state. At least one school transportation program was also dropped earlier.

Dropping gifted programming is rediculous. These top students are the best that our society and economy have going into the next generation.

Comment by Capitol View Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 9:53 am
What a joke. But I guess if Mike Madigan is willing to put the state workers pension in whole, I should not be surprised his incompetence would put kids in the same boat. Not only will this put kids behind when they go to Kindergarden on year 1, it is a 100 million dollar tax on working families. You idiots refused to spead 1.5% over the general poplution. Now you just put 30k kids in need of private day care at a minimum cost of 100 per week. That is a 3 million dollor per week expense to working families. In metro areas the cost is closer to 200 if there is day care available.

Good job guys, when my kids are in JR high and can’t figure out why that can’t catch up I’m sending them to your house Mike, YOU can explain it to them. But hey, what do you care, you daugther can barely read and she managed to get a job.

Comment by the Patriot Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 9:54 am
==Instead of complaining that jobs are being outsourced to india (which has heavily invested in educating its population) we need to make knowledge and learning our forte.==

The United States spends more on education than India, China, and Japan combined.

We just allocate resources a lot differently. They’re advancing using low cost technology while we are strolling along to preserve text books.

We can do much better if we were to allocate resources in better ways. How many “No Child Left Behind” funded computers never made it out of the shrinkwrap for Illinois students?

There are home schools in Illinois that take their one dollar as far as public schools take one thousand dollars.

“Real Education” by Charles Murray is a must read book. The ad hominem platoon, stand ready.

Comment by Brennan Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 10:22 am
=== There are home schools in Illinois that take their one dollar as far as public schools take one thousand dollars. ===

Brennan -

I’ve read the research on home schooling. And I’m not going to say that there aren’t some great home-schooling parents out there.

But the most common reason parents chose to home school their children was not the 3 R’s. 36% said it was to provide proper moral and religious instruction. Until someone tells me otherwise, I’m presuming the objection to public education has something to do with evolution, sex education, and anti-discrimination policies toward gays and lesbians. I hope for the sake of the 1.5 million homeschooled kids I’m wrong.

Considering how up-in-arms conservatives get about teachers unions protecting unqualified teachers, you’d think Republicans would be alarmed that 1/3 of homeschooling parents never even completed college.

You’d be wrong.

Comment by Yellow Dog Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 10:50 am
Brennan’s right. In addition to spending more money than the three afroementioned countries in aggregate, we also spend more money on education as a % of our GDP than they do (at least India and Japan–talking budgetary numbers with China is an inexact science). The problem is that we’re bad at both allocating resources effectively, and utilizing the resources that have been allocated.

Comment by Obamarama Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 10:54 am
You might as well just ignore Brennan. He always spouts the usual Illinois Review talking points regardless of topic. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was Fran herself.

Comment by Bill Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 10:56 am
Clarification: I meant Brennan was right about educational spending, not about homeschooling. Sorry friend, I can’t jump on board with that one.

Comment by Obamarama Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 10:56 am
Bill: I need an agent. Interested? Apparently Fran’s been stealing all my work.

Comment by Brennan Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 11:17 am
There is something wrong if the US spends more money in aggregate than India, China and Japan while having the lowest numbers of hours in the classroom of any industrialized nation.

As far as home schooling is concerned, there has to be a reason that home schooled children are over represented near the top of many national academic competitions.

I have no school aged children, but I would consider home schooling if only to avoid those unhealthful lunches I see served by the system….

Comment by Plutocrat03 Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 11:29 am
People seem to notice the budget issue only after it hits them directly. When social services was the prime target, there did not seem to be much interest except the groups that were losing services. There was some education talk, but relatively quiet. Now, real dollars for education are being cut and people whose focus is education are suddenly shocked about the impact to educational services. The pot of revenue money is only so big and is shrinking. The GA feels they avoided catastrophe without a tax increase. The solution of borrowing, putting off paying bills, and using one time Federal dollars only works a short time. That train leads to California.

Comment by zatoichi Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 11:45 am
Interesting that this “rolls back early childhood programs by 5 years”. So we are at the same level we were before Blago’s increase of programming without any funding? Guess the chickens have finally come home to roost on that concept - at some point, you have to find the revenue.

Comment by lincolnlover Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 11:48 am
These education cuts are the tip of the iceberg. It’s going to be a heck of a Christmas this year when we find out college scholarships are cut, prisons and veterans homes must close, hospitals go under and mental health programs disappear.

The “new” doomsday will be upon us in a few short months. Enjoy the rest of your summer folks, because we’ll be back here soon enough having the income tax debate again. In fact, the entire 2010 election is going to be a referendum on income taxes in Illinois. Candidates better stake out their positions now because everyone is going to be put on record one way or the other.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 12:33 pm
“Dropping gifted programming is rediculous. These top students are the best that our society and economy have going into the next generation.”- Capitol View -

ok great. now, any evidence that they actually stay in illinois, so that we reap the benefits of their vastly superior intelligence? they probably don’t.

too bad for illinois. maybe in exchange for taxpayer support, we could force gifted students to stay in illinois for the entirety of their lives. they should also be forced to serve in the GA and all constitutional offices because obviously none there (at present especially) are too intellectually gifted.

Comment by Will County Woman Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 1:24 pm
===any evidence that they actually stay in illinois, so that we reap the benefits of their vastly superior intelligence? they probably don’t.===

Should we really evaluate what academic programs are worthy of funding using the likelihood that they will live in Illinois as a criterion? What if each individual school district operated under that philosophy? “If you might move out of the district, we don’t care about making sure you get the most out of your educational experience.” Just sayin.

Comment by Obamarama Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 1:43 pm
@ - Obamarama - Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 1:43 pm:

in my previous post I was being sarcastic, not literal.

Comment by Will County Woman Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 2:29 pm
WCW, that makes more sense then!

Comment by Obamarama Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 3:18 pm
Is “steve schnorf @ 3:17 pm” the real deal or a squatter?

Comment by cover Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 4:35 pm
Thanks, cover. Deleted.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 4:41 pm
Rich, why am I deleted? I’m just trying ti walk a mile in others’ shoes.

Comment by steve schnorf Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 5:45 pm
“This time its the SCHOOLS”………

Excuse me… the 50% budget proposed that 3 state schools should close their doors… all three schools serve students from all over the state of Illinois…while public schools were promised to be “held harmless” the three state schools..not under ISBE’s direction…(DHS ) endured cuts. It’s discrimination…but nobody wants to say that. To date… the schools have remained open…however….we all know the backdoor mode of operation is to cut their services and programs….which will force the schools to close or drastically reduce services.

However…my point here is…schools/education were a part of the budget cuts all along… but due to the specialized nature and the percentage of the school age population served by the three state schools…folks failed to recognize…that they are SCHOOLS…and each continue to face possible closure and cuts. The schools have faced cuts…before..during and after the entire budget process…unlike public schools. Just saying…..

Comment by school by another name is still a school.... Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 7:30 pm
Why in the world would not Gov Quinn ride in on a white horse and “save” these critical programs. He can spend like crazy through the primary and if he wins he can dictate his terms for more funding to the democrats–if he loses–who cares.

Comment by 6 month budget Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 10:06 pm
At our local school board meeting last night, our K-8 district announced they anticipate losing almost $180,000 in current dollars for upcoming school year; have a $240,000 in shortfall from promised FY09 state funding (which doubles the hole because the bills have already been paid); and are scrapping the 40 kids in pre-K because the state still owes $50,000 from last year and cut the funding for this year. This is a district with a total EAV of $180,000,000.

Comment by Vote Quimby! Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 10:28 pm
In the litany of cuts above, no one asked if every teacher could pay 25-50% of their health care, or if every teacher take a 10-15% pay cut until the economy comes back, or if Administrator pay could be capped at $150,000K, or if car allowances could be abolished, or if we repaired a functional school instead of building a new Taj Mahal…

One could list 1000s of ways to cut costs in education without hurting needy or gifted kids.

Raising the retirement to a rational 65 and abolishing steps and lane changes in teachers contracts would save every program mentioned above.

How many curriculum coordinators, Assistant principals, and incompetent “school business officers” should we employ so that 100s of poor black kids should be prevented from having the option to go to a charter school?

Arnold just “balanced” the budget on the backs of the poor and elderly, and Illinois cuts preschool and gifted programs, but the unions and administrators never takes a pay or payroll cut.

They ought to be ashamed, but they are shameless.

Comment by Bruno Behrend Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 11:15 pm
While I agree with many of your statements, Bruno, “school business officers” aren’t the reason charter schools are being blocked. It’s all about the teacher’s unions not wanting any more competition to the public school system. (I know plenty of teachers and administrators who would shut down parochial, private and home schooling if they thought they could get away with it.)

And you can complain that almost 1/3 of all home schooling parents haven’t completed college, but what proof do you have that a college degree makes you more competent to teach? Does it matter what topic the college degree is in? It’s only within the last 100 years that districts began to demand that teachers have more than a high school education before they step in front of a classroom. I’m 36 hours away from a double Bachelor’s in Finance and Accounting, and I cringe everytime I sit in a school board meeting and see a hand out created by some one with a master’s or a doctorate that has obvious spelling or grammar errors. And these folks are usually my age (41) or older!!

Comment by Lynn S Wednesday, Jul 22, 09 @ 11:34 pm