©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| State Board of Ed. Concerned About Budget |
Like many agencies and boards across the state, the Illinois State Board of Education is facing some major cutbacks, should the proposed budget that cuts human services funding in half be signed by the governor. The board has been hearing testimony this week from people who would be impacted should the board cut $400 million from its original proposed budget.
Those cuts would specifically hit programs such as early childhood education and bilingual programs, which are funded through the "programmatic" budget.
Board spokesman Matt Vanover says such programs would likely be cut because there are some programs that simply can't be cut in half, such as assessment tests required by the No Child Left Behind Act. He says the state spends roughly $30 million a year on those tests, and if they’re cut, the state will lose out on about $2.3 billion in federal aid.
One of the state's budget proposals to cut human services funding in half would, however, include more general state aid dollars for education, which would increase the amount of state money spent per student by about $231. Vanover says this is money given directly to the districts to use at their discretion. So theoretically, he says they could use some of the increased revenue to fund special programs that would otherwise have to be cut.
Vanover says the board will wait until June 30 to see if the governor and legislators can come to any sort of budget agreement before voting to make cuts.
(Illinois Radio Network) |
|
| 06 21 09 by Newsroom |
Click here for the WGIL News Archive
Click here for national news
The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.
