Area Superintendents are sending a warning.
The State of Illinois is about a week away from it’s 10th month without a budget and the chief administrators of districts in Henry, Stark and some in Bureau County are beyond concerned.
They say they want to make the public and legislators understand the severity that the budget impasse is putting on K-12 education.
Shane Kazubowski is Superintendent of Wethersfield schools and the spokesman for the group of superintendents.
He tells WGIL that districts have a budget for this fiscal year but they’re being told the state of Illinois is out of money.
“What that translates to is we’re being told we would not receive our full funding for general state aid for the remainder of this fiscal year,” Kazubowski says.
That would mean that K-12 education would not receive any payments through July.
Furthermore, if there’s not a state budget on July 1 Kazubowski says school districts would receive no state funding next year.
General state aid, transportation and reimbursement for special education services are all things school districts construct their budget relying on.
“If a budget’s not in place and school districts in the area do not receive state funding there’s going to be dire consequences,” Kazubowski says.
Consequences like schools closing their doors.
He says the district’s have reserves but not enough to sustain through next year.
