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Schools still waiting for funding bump from 'BIMP'

Posted November 15, 2007 10:00 pm

Adriana Colindres

After weeks of delay, lawmakers this month finally sent Gov. Rod Blagojevich the legislation needed to ensure that public schools receive the extra state funding they're supposed to get this year.

But the schools are still waiting for the money.

That's because the Democratic governor has yet to act on the 440-page budget implementation bill - sometimes referred to as "BIMP."

Without the BIMP, schools cannot collect on a $400 increase in the state's new "foundation level" of $5,734 per student. Lawmakers authorized the higher level earlier in the year, but they also needed to pass a budget implementation bill to make it happen.

The legislation includes other provisions, such as boosting payment rates for some nursing homes and providers that serve the developmentally disabled.

The measure, Senate Bill 783, basically is a companion piece to the state budget. In most years, the General Assembly votes for the BIMP at about the same time it votes for the state budget plan that legislative leaders negotiate with the governor.

But 2007 has been an especially contentious legislative year.

Lawmakers waited until Aug. 10 to give final approval to a state budget for the fiscal year that began July 1. Then, the governor used his veto power to cut about $500 million from the $59 billion spending plan. The legislature later restored some of the cuts.

The budget implementation measure passed the Senate and House on Nov. 2, and it was sent to the governor three days later. The state Constitution gives him 60 days to decide whether to sign it.

Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch had little to say on the matter Thursday.

"The BIMP is under review,"" she wrote in an e-mailed response.

State School Superintendent Christopher Koch said school officials are closely watching for developments.

"It's a large bill," Koch said. "It's over 400 pages, and there were a number of things that I think they (in the governor's office) wanted to go through. Of course, we've all been watching this for a long time. It's a continuing drama and saga for schools in getting their increase."

Sarah Watson, spokeswoman for the Springfield School District, said the situation has not affected day-to-day operations so far, though the district has had to dip into its financial reserves.

"To my knowledge, we're still going on good faith that this is going to get signed," she said.

Koch and other officials held a news conference in late October, warning that most Illinois school districts would get less money from the state unless lawmakers quickly sent the governor a BIMP.

For the past couple of months, Illinois State Board of Education officials have based school districts' state aid payments on their funding levels from the fiscal year that ended June 30. The calculations need to be updated to ensure that school districts don't get more state funding than they should.

But after lawmakers acted Nov. 2, education officials decided to send schools their first November payments at the 2007 levels, too, Koch said. State aid payments are made twice a month.

State aid to school districts is based on several variables, including average daily attendance, equalized assessed valuation and corporate property replacement tax, Koch said. School districts with higher levels of local resources, such as a high property tax base, receive less state aid, and the districts with fewer local resources collect more state aid.

Adriana Colindres can be reached at (217) 782-6292 or adriana.colindres@sj-r.com.

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