Page 5 - Superintendents Toolkit 2013

Budget/Cost Shift
Background:
The state budget for public education in Illinois has been on a
downward spiral the past few years with General State Aid being
prorated or cut by 5% in FY12 and by 11% in FY13.
Transportation funding has been reduced by 42% from FY10 levels.
Funding for Mandated Categoricals has been on a
roller-coaster ride, having risen from FY04
through FY10, then falling 8.4% in FY11, rising by
0.04% in FY12 and dropping by 1.44% in FY13.
The governor is scheduled to deliver his Budget
Address to the General Assembly on March 6, but
preliminary numbers released by his office in
January call for a $400 million cut to the public
education budget for FY14 to reach as much as a
$1.4 billion cut by FY16 if the income tax
increases are allowed to expire and nothing is
done regarding the unfunded liability of the
state’s pension systems.
The Education Funding Advisory Board (EFAB) in
its annual report to the General Assembly
delivered in January of 2013 called for an
increase in the GSA foundation level to $8,762,
citing a national education funding model. The
price tag to reach that level in FY14 would be
$4.7 billion.
Meanwhile, ISBE’s proposal for FY14 included an
$874 million increase, $745 million of which
would be needed to restore GSA to the
foundation level of $6,119 as opposed to the 89%
foundation-level funding for this school year.
In sharp contrast to both EFAB’s and ISBE’s
proposals to fund public education, Illinois
remains dead last in the country in terms of
providing funding for public education as
illustrated in the chart to the left.
(Continued on page 6)