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A few school districts will see smaller state aid payments

Posted December 13, 2007 10:00 pm

Adriana Colindres

A handful of Illinois school districts soon will start receiving less money from their twice-a-month state funding payments, a State Board of Education spokesman said Thursday.

The affected districts have experienced "great changes," meaning a substantial increase in equalized assessed valuation of the property within their boundaries or a substantial drop in average daily attendance, board spokesman Matt Vanover said.

As a result, those districts should be getting less general state aid than last year. But so far this academic year, all public school districts' general state-aid payments have been based on their funding levels from last year.

To avoid the possibility of overpaying school districts, State Board of Education officials recently began contacting the districts that are due to receive less in state aid this year, Vanover said.

Two of the districts, both in Cook County, have been contacted so far, he said, adding that fewer than 10 districts statewide face the same situation.

Calculations that are used to determine each district's payment have not been updated because of the uncertain status of legislation needed to ensure public schools get the extra state funding that lawmakers authorized. Without the "budget implementation" bill, or BIMP, schools cannot collect on a $400 increase in the state's new "foundation level" of $5,734 per student.

That legislation, Senate Bill 783, won final legislative approval Nov. 2, after weeks of delay in the General Assembly.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich received the bill Nov. 5, but he has yet to act on it. The state Constitution gives him 60 days to decide what to do.

Late last month, the Democratic governor signaled he might use his amendatory veto power to recommend revisions.

"We're looking at that bill," Blagojevich said at the time. "I think there could be a way to actually put more money into education."

On Thursday, Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said in an e-mailed response that the legislation "includes far more than education increases. We are carefully reviewing the 400-plus page bill."

Other provisions in the bill include boosting payment rates for some nursing homes and for providers that serve the developmentally disabled.

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