How much school support can the state afford?
SCHOOL funding requests are the innermost spiral of a potential spending cyclone that is looming on the horizon of government in Illinois. The issue is whether the governor can convince the important agencies or interest groups to control their spending, especially in the wake of the official pay raise. Gov. James R. Thompson and his Bureau of the Budget are in the eye of the storm. They say control of education funding is the key to their hopes to control state spending in general in fiscal 1980.
Education funding can be controlled more easily than most other large areas of state spending, like welfare and roads, which are entitlement areas — meaning they are entitled by law to state-funded program aid. Roads, corrections and child welfare agencies are in immediate, dire need of added funds. But revenue growth is expected to slow as general economic growth slows; a $400 million revenue growth is likely, and state revenue sharing and transportation formulas may take $50 to $60 million of that off the top.
The governor said in February that if the Illinois Board of Higher Education or the State Board of Education get their full budget requests they might "start an administrative and legislative stampede" on state general fund reserves — the sole hedge against a tax boost, since deficit spending is not a state prerogative under the 1970 State Constitution. If a recession comes, the reserve would be needed for expanded welfare costs. But the school boards say they absolutely need the requested funds to maintain adequate education in the state.
The two sides are nearly $150 million apart. Education superintendent Joseph M. Cronin indicated in a February 8 board meeting that it was not likely that educators would back down from their original request, even though the governor asked them to at the meeting.
This same controversy whirls around the Capitol Dome every year. Last year the governor was more flexible than the school boards, judging by original requests and final appropriations figures, partially because of an influx of nearly $37 million in one-time federal Title XX funds. But the thing that makes this year's battle unique is the delicate balance between the budget and the fewer options available in light of the crying need for more money in corrections, child care and roads.
The details are unique. In January the state higher education board recommended a budget of $1,047 billion, and the board of elementary and secondary schools requested $2,106 billion for fiscal 1980. However, the governor said on February 1 that he would recommend $1,017 billion funding for higher education, and $2,016 billion for elementary and secondary education — nearly $ 150 million less than the boards' requests and $115 million less exclusively from state funds. Both sides are calling for an increase. Even the governor's proposal is an increase over the fiscal 1979 projected spending — $55 million more in higher education and $81 million more in elementary and secondary education spending.
School enrollment has been declining for the last eight years, and is predicted to continue downward for another decade. This decline would lead one to believe that spending demands by education might also decline, but that has not been the case. For one thing, transportation costs have risen, and the range of educational opportunities and programs has been expanded to meet newly recognized social responsibilities, such as bi-lingual education, adult education, special education for all visually impaired and handicapped children, and expansion of vocational training programs and the community college system.
As a result, the cost of education has continued to rise despite the enrollment decline, but at a much slower rate than in the boom years of 1967-1971. The average school spending growth since 1973 has been 9 per cent.
Gov. Thompson's fiscal 1980 spend-ing package calls for a 6.6 per cent increase in the level of higher education spending, while the higher education board calls for a 9.8 per cent increase. The governor's recommendation for elementary and secondary education would give a 4.2 per cent boost while the state board wants an 8.8 per cent of the Budget director Robert Mandeville.
March 1979/Illinois Issues/2
