CAT Tracks for February 20, 2003 WE "STAY" IN THE NEWS!

The Southern Illinoisan reports on our latest "appearance"...

SENATE TOLD SCHOOLS NEAR COLLAPSE: STATE REPORT SHOWS DISTRICTS CAN'T RAISE ENOUGH MONEY

BY RICHARD GOLDSTEIN
SPRINGFIELD BUREAU
[Wed Feb 19 2003]

SPRINGFIELD -- Cairo school district was used as Exhibit A in a Senate hearing Tuesday on the dire state of school funding in Illinois.

The superintendent of the Illinois State Board of Education said schools are near financial collapse. A former superintendent presented a proposal for a $1.8 billion tax increase to fix the problem.

Robert E. Schiller, superintendent of the State Board of Education, said most school districts in Illinois are spending more than they are bringing in.

"About 61 percent of our school districts are operating with deficits in their operating (or) education funds," Schiller said. "That number is projected to rise to almost 80 percent next year as state revenues decline, tax caps limit growth in local funds, and with dim prospects of local districts passing local referenda next month."

Ronald J. Gidwitz, chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education, said that even if school districts bring in more money than the year before, salaries and health care costs are exceeding revenues. Gidwitz will visit Cairo on Thursday morning, a district for which a financial oversight panel was appointed last week.

"At this point it is projected that they will run out of money in April," Gidwitz said.

Schiller described the plight of the Decatur school district, where personnel costs rose by 9 percent, benefits increased 15 percent and utilities spiked 19 percent. He said the district cut $8.2 million. Meanwhile, it lost $326,000 in state funding this school year.

"They can't raise local funding anymore," Schiller said. "It's a school district that's struggling. It's a community that's struggling. This is just kind of a snapshot of what is happening statewide." But some Republicans on the Senate Education Committee questioned whether some districts are taxing property owners enough to adequately finance schools. They also questioned whether the educational culture is behind the times.

Sen. Steven J. Rauschenberger, R-Elgin, said high schools have a lower teacher-to-student ratio than elementary schools because of mismanagement. He also criticized a school calendar that was set for the 1940s instead of today. School funding reform has failed in the past, he said, because the system is unwilling to change.

Robert Leininger, former superintendent of the Illinois State Board of Education, presented the report by the Education Funding Advisory Board. The report was Issued in October, and Tuesday was the first time Leininger briefed the General Assembly on its contents.

The advisory board, which includes Marleis Trover, superintendent of the Vienna high school district, recommends a $1.8 billion net tax increase to "adequately" fund kindergarten through 12th grade.

Under the proposal, property taxes would fall, but the state income tax would rise from 3 percent to 4 percent. The sales tax would be expanded, and Illinois would withdraw, or "decouple," from the federal government's inheritance tax reduction.

But Gov. Rod Blagojevich has pledged not to increase sales and income taxes, so the political viability of most of the plan remains in doubt. Even those who support the notion of a "tax swap" are unsure whether the advisory board's proposal can become law.

Sen. Larry D. Woolard, D-Carterville, a member of the Education Committee whose district includes Cairo, favors an income tax increase.

"In reality we have to recognize that without new moneys we're not going to be able to fix those major problems that are facing education," Woolard said. "Continuing the same funding in effect shows that we are decreasing the amount of commitment we have to kids."

richard.goldstein@lee.net