Two Arlington Heights school districts are owed more than $4 million in state funding, officials said, with the budget impasse unlikely to be resolved any time soon.
Township High School District 214, is due about $2 million in general state aid, which helps pay for student services such as bus transportation and special education programs,officials said. The district is also awaiting an additional $726,000 in federal grant funding dispersed by the state, including funds for career education and student technology initiatives, said Cathy Johnson, associate superintendent for finance and operations.
“We’re borrowing from Peter to pay Paul at the moment,” Johnson said. “While we’re waiting for the money from the state, we still have to provide students with transportation, and the buses still have to run.”
At Arlington Heights School District 25, officials said the state owes the district about $750,000 in general state aid, but that number will double to $1.5 million if funding is not received by Dec. 30, said Stacey Mallek, assistant superintendent for business.
Officials try to look ahead and anticipate problems, Mallek said. One way is the board of education’s goal of keeping in reserves 60 percent of a year’s expenditures, just in case property taxes arrive late, or like this year, the state falls woefully behind its quarterly funding schedule, she said..
“The benefit of keeping property taxes for schools local is that it’s a stable funding source, coming directly from the community,” Mallek said. “If the property taxes had to go through a large economic body, we just couldn’t count on them, because they would end up getting caught up in an legislative power struggle.”
Johnson said officials have not yet allowed the state budget impasse to lead to cuts in educational programs. Still, she acknowledged that officials had thought a state budget would be delayed, but only until September.
“What we’re doing with each program is proceeding very, very cautiously,” Johnson said. “It’s really difficult to move forward and spend when you don’t know if funds you’ve already been promised will arrive.”
Twitter: @kcullotta
