School Districts Across Illinois Completely Screwed
By Prescott Carlson in News on Mar 25, 2010 6:20PM
The CPS isn't the only district in a bad financial place. School districts throughout Illinois are feeling the pinch as money coming in continues to be less than money going out. Some districts, as the Chicago Tribune reports, are finding out that their previous deficit spending is catching up with them -- Wheaton Warrenville School DIstrict 200, which has run at a deficit for the last 8 years, has had to slash $14 million from its budget. One resident blames union contracts:
"It's frankly unsustainable" said Mark Stern, a Wheaton resident who took District 200 to court in 2006 after it refused to make that superintendent's contract public. "The average teacher makes $72,000, which is a pretty good salary even for a full-time job, and (the former superintendent's) contract had everything and the kitchen sink in it."
Adding to the school districts' woes is the fact that Illinois is extremely late providing state funds, owing individual districts millions of dollars each. The missing payment led District 300 in the northwest suburbs to politicize their school signs, informing parents and students of the $5.8 million the state owes them. Yesterday, over 300 students at a high school there staged a walkout protesting the district cutting over 150 teachers from next year's budget.
The Batavia Sun is reporting that a pair of educators are seizing on the mood of parents throughout the state and trying to shake up the whole way schools in Illinois are funded. The two have filed a lawsuit against the state, claiming that its "means of funding poor districts violates the Illinois Constitution."
"Obviously, it is inherently unfair that some people are asked to give more to meet the basic levels," plaintiff Paul Carr said during a Wednesday conference call.
A director of a local advocacy group told the paper that "the property-tax-poorer districts effectively tax themselves at a higher rate than the property-tax-richer districts to reach that foundation level." The idea of doing away with schools relying so heavily on property taxes for funds is an idea that has been echoed for years, although until now it hasn't been challenged in court. Illinois, despite its constitution stating that the state will "provide the majority of school funding," the rate of funds provided has dropped to an average of 25 percent in recent years.