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Influences Within Public Programs KB Washington Public Budgeting July 1, 2013

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Illinois budget woes In a sweeping effort to control the states bludgeoned budget, the Governor (Quinn) decided the quickest way to plug the holes is to make very deep cuts in the states education budget. More than 100 schools have been closed across the state since 2009; severe educational program cuts have occurred, and many programs were eliminated as a result of the educational cuts. According to Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, the budget crisis facing Illinois is the most difficult budget in the state's history, stating He was slashing spending on programs such as education to pay the skyrocketing costs of public pensions (Young, 2013, para 1). Political, economic, social, cultural influences Currently, Illinois has the worst state funded pension program, lowest debt rating, and the worst budgeting practices in the nation. Some of the issues with the Governors budget include delayed payment of bills and debts causing problems for medical providers. According to John Tillman, CEO of Illinois Policy Institute, None of the governors (Quinn) budgets is balanced or ends in a surplus. All of them have deficits (Young, 2013, para. 5). However, the governor maintains that his budget is balanced and honest (Young, 2013, para. 4). Even with cuts to public programs like education, public assistance, and health care, the state is projected to run out of pension funds by 2018. According to John Kindt, business, and legal policy professor at University of Illinois, Reductions in pensions and earned benefits, teachers and public employees are going to pay until the public recognizes that Big Gambling is the Big Cause of the Illinois budget crisis (Kindt, 2013, para. 10). Furthermore, Kindt maintains that because

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Illinois did not tax casinos at comparable rates as other states, the state lost the additional $35 $56 billion in tax revenues that would have kept the state from experiencing the devastating effects of this current budget crisis. The statistics are staggering that show the already challenging situations that exist within the state. Socially and culturally the trend for poverty is increasing, especially among children less than five years of age. According to Voices for Illinois Children (advocacy group), one in every five children under the age of five was living in
poverty (defined as under $22,000 for a family of four). They forecast that nearly one in four Illinois children would be living in poverty by 2012 (Brennan, 2010, para 5). The Chicago Public Schools (CPS), has announced it will cut at least 1,000 jobs this year and close at least 14 schools. The Elgin-based school district U-46 has already cut 348 jobs and several athletic programs as it faces a deficit of over $60 million. Similar trends are taking place in nearly every school district in the state (Brennan, 2010, para 5).

Federal, state, municipal interaction Some Illinois lawmakers are blaming the Obama administration for Illinois education demise primarily because they believe more funding should have been provided to Illinois. In 2008, as part of the federal governments national stimulus plan for education, Illinois received $3 billion. According to Brennan (2010), that money was a mere drop in the bucketboth for what is required to improve public education in Illinois and in comparison to the trillion-dollar bailouts handed to the banks during the same period (para 10). According to Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), taxpayers contribute to education funding through local real estate taxes; state tax revenues only provide for a small portion of the states total education funding (ISBE, 2013). In fiscal year 2012 the

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distribution of education funding was: Federal 12.5% State 32.5% Local 55%

For fiscal year 2013 the state contributed 38% of the total Illinois state budget toward education. The 2014 fiscal year budget for Illinois plans to remain just a few percentages less than 38% for the states funding of education. The lawmakers of Illinois tried to keep the education budget for the state flat, however; some legislators are upset because they believe even deeper cuts should have occurred because the state cannot afford to maintain education funding at its current diminished state. Illinois Republicans are stating that the Democrats increased spending by $2 billion, and Kristina Rasmussen from The Illinois Policy Institute said, Thats money we dont have, especially if they are going to keep their promise of repealing the tax increase on time in 2015 (FoxIlinois, 2013, para. 7). State Senator Andy Manar, a Democrat said, he disagrees that the budget increases spending because their goal was to restore education budget cuts if they could find cuts elsewhere. (FoxIlinois, 2013, para. 7). Although the states new budget shows the education budget remaining flat for the new fiscal year, and the state is funding school districts at 89%; school districts are still losing out on needed funding for programs and teaching staff. For example, Chatham, one Illinois rural school districts will lose $800,000 this year in funding. This is a major financial gap for any schools operational budget, rural, suburban, or urban.

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Illinois agency budget office In the states budget for 2013, Illinois detailed goals for education are to promote quality education, build foundation for the future, and support school districts and educators. Proposals and ideals on paper are only a guideline by which to operate. Sadly, Illinois government has only shown their lack of concern for its residents. Year after year, Illinois governors, mayors, and alderman have shown their inability to handle the financial affairs of the state, city, and local government honestly and fairly. For example, just this year the Securities and Exchange Commission found that the state broke federal securities laws by misleading investors in misstating the true health of the states depleted pension funds between 2005 and 2009 (Suntimes, 2013, para 5). Justifications The Education Funding Advisory Board (EFAB) was brought in to make strong recommendations for how Illinois could reform its poor educational system. EFAB is required under state law to make recommendations to the legislature concerning General State Aid (GSA) for districts, specifically to advise where to set the statutory minimum per-pupil funding levels, including the supplemental poverty grants for districts with a high percentage of children from low-income families (ISBE, 2013). One of their biggest proposals was to increase the foundation level for each student from $6,119 to $8,672. Although this increase is positive, it is coming too late. Since 2009, Illinois educational system has eliminated many needed programs including: 1. Reading Improvement Block Grant ($76.1 million) 2. ADA Block Grant ($74.8 million)

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3. Textbook Loan Program ($42.8 million) 4. Summer Bridges ($22.2 million) 5. Transitional Assistance ($19.2 million) 6. Teacher and Administrator Mentoring ($14.0 million) 7. Transportation Reimbursements ($11.9 million) 8. After School Programs ($9.7 million) 9. Class Size Reduction Pilot ($8.0 million) 10. Fast Growth Grants ($7.5 million) 11. Gifted Education ($7.0 million) 12. Jobs for IL Graduates ($4.0 million) 13. Re-Enrolling Students ($4.0 million) 14. Targeted Interventions ($4.0 million) 15. Rural Technology Initiative ($4.0 million) The programs listed above is only a short list of the more than 40 different educational programs that faced elimination and the 20 programs dramatically reduced as a result of the states budget cuts to education. The state of Illinois has shown gross negligence in the states budget in all areas. There is no justification for this type of bad mismanagement. For decades, Illinois politics and government have been crammed full of abuse, illegal activity, and mismanagement; this behavior has caused the demise of Illinois and its budget to manage the state. Public programs like education, public assistance, and public pensions are paying the price for this bad behavior.

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Conclusion Illinois public programs are vital to the well-being of the state and its residents. Tough economic times have pushed more of its residents into the poverty category. This means that more students need to receive the learning needed to be successful in todays competitive market. Because Illinois state government navigated its financial systems poorly, the funding needed by schools to ensure students receive the best education possible is seriously lacking. State governments have operated primarily with complete autonomy on how they manage their states budgets. Many citizens believe the federal government has already infringed too greatly into citizen life, however; issues like what is happening in Illinois are showing the need for more federal involvement. However, others may argue that the federal government cannot manage the states because they cannot pass a budget and has caused financial distress to the nation via the sequestration and the newly passed school loan percentage increase for college students. A public budget is a political document, and a budgets main purpose is to balance revenues and expenditures (Smith & Lynch, 2004). Most important is the accountability factor. Until Illinois develops an accountability mechanism to govern its budgeting, this state will continue to see poor management and distribution of public funding.

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References Brennan, Matthew. (2010). Illinois budget crisis deepens. Retrieved from http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/03/illi-m10.html FoxIllinois. (2013). Chatham School District Reacts To State Budget. Retrieved from http://www.foxillinois.com/news/local/Chatham-School-District-Reacts-To-StateBudget-211559901.html Illinois Board of Education (ISBE). (2013). Education Funding Advisory Board: Double education investment by $4.7 billion. Retrieved from http://www.isbe.state.il.us/news/2013/jan23b.htm Kindt, John. (2013). Big Gambling is big cause of states budget problem. Ret rieved from http://www.news-gazette.com/opinion/guest-commentary/2013-05-19/biggambling-big-cause-states-budget-problems.html Smith, R. W., & Lynch, T. D. (2004). Public budgeting in America. (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. Suntimes. (2013). SEC hits Illinois with securities fraud charges, says Blagojevich budget office misled investors on pension risks. Retrieved from http://voices.suntimes.com/early-and-often/politics/sec-hits-illinois-with-securitiesfraud-charges/ Young, Renita. (2013). Illinois governor calls budget plan toughest in state's history. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/06/usa-illinois-budgetidUSL1N0BYJ0520130306.