The state-funded Illinois Math and Science Academy in Aurora has spent nearly seven months eyeing its expenses and stretching the limited amount of money it can access while the state has no budget.
But by the end of March, IMSA President Jose Torres said, the selective, residential high school might owe more money to the companies that provide it supplies and services than it has in its accounts if money doesn’t start flowing again from the state.
Though Torres said the school will likely weather the budget stalemate in the immediate term, the school will “be really in deeper trouble” by the end of March.
“We are at a critical, critical point,” he said.
The school, based in Aurora, draws applicants from across Illinois and receives most of its funding from the state, which has had no approved budget since the fiscal year began in July.
Because of the way it’s funded, it is in a similar situation to the state universities that recently painted dire pictures of their futures without a state budget, said state Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia, D-Aurora, a member of the state higher education appropriations committee and a candidate for Aurora mayor. But unlike the universities, she said, IMSA cannot charge full tuition but instead assesses fees that vary based on the student’s situation.
The school is “a totally different” kind of high school, and the state is known for IMSA and the caliber of students it produces, she said.
“This is the livelihood of these children,” she said.
Torres said the school receives about 80 percent of its funding from the state, while universities often get less. The school has about $2.5 million — much of that raised through student and program fees — in other pots of money it can access even without a state budget, he said. Some of that was only made available in December.
The largest of those pots of money is going toward paying the school’s bills, which Torres said the school has been putting off until they are overdue and the vendors threaten to stop providing services. The school asks the companies to be patient, Torres said.
School teachers, staff and administrators are classified as state employees and are getting paid by the state. But the uncertainty affects morale, he said.
The school has had a hard time filling vacancies that Torres described as “critical.” The executive directors for facilities and fundraising and a position for corporate giving remain vacant. New people have been hired, only to leave days or months later for more certain jobs, he said. An applicant for one position had agreed to take the job, but then backed out.
Though Torres said the school has tried to protect student programs, some students have come to his office worried about rumors they’ve heard, which he tries to dispel.
The school had already increased some class sizes and cut about 15 positions, mostly outside the classroom, in preparation for the expected budget, which was to include cuts from the previous year.
Still, he said, students are applying to come to IMSA next year, and he expects a competitive class about the same size as previous years.
“Our students have been resilient,” Torres said. “Our staff have been resilient.”
Some IMSA parents, such as Oswego residents Monica and Herb Crum, said that though a shutdown doesn’t seem imminent, they are concerned about what might happen in the future. Their daughter, Monique, is a sophomore at the school, the first year students are generally accepted.
Her decision to attend the school was carefully thought out and affected the entire family, Monica Crum said. If the school shut down, she said, she doesn’t know how she would explain to her daughter why she can’t return.
“It would break my heart if she couldn’t go back,” she said.
In that worst-case scenario, students would have to return to their home schools, where the math and science courses offered might only be at a level they’ve already passed, Torres said. Seniors’ college application status would be affected, as would the school’s reputation, he said.
He tries not to think about that scenario, he said.
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