Last night, the schools of ROE 33 met to discuss how each are impacted by Illinois having no budget. A prime example is Galesburg and District 205 canceling this year’s K-5 summer school.
District 205’s summer school is funded by federal Title I grants.
The problem is without a state budget those federal dollars are stopped at the Illinois State Board of Education.
As a result, the district will not hold K-5 summer school, which is usually used as an opportunity to catch up elementary students who might be struggling in reading.
Finance Director Jennifer Hamm says this will be the first of many things that will need to be looked at if Springfield doesn’t provide K-12 funding for FY17.
“It’s truly a dire situation for many districts including Galesburg who rely heavily on state aid,” Hamm says.
This summer there will be some summer school classes.
Extended year classes are statutorily required for some special education students.
Available will be Apex Credit Recovery for high school students needing to make up a class and driver’s ed for qualifying students.
Hamm says next year hopefully when funding is back to normal the district hopes to extend K-5 summer school to include math help.
