State Reports                                                                    

Newsletter informs the elderly

•Elder Rights Update, Department on Aging, Division of Older American Services, 421 E. Capitol, Room 100, Springfield 62701-1789.

This new quarterly newsletter is devoted to information relating to the Elder Abuse and Ombudsman programs. It will also contain articles on legal issues. Volume 1, Number 1, issued in the fall of 1994, explains Illinois' spousal impoverishment provisions, which determine the amount a "community" spouse may retain as assets and income when the other spouse is on Medicaid.

The second issue of the newsletter is dated Winter 1995 and has a follow-up article on this topic, specifically on the question of whether the community spouse can sell or transfer a home while the institutionalized spouse is still in a nursing home. This issue also contains information on the Illinois Volunteer Money Management Program and how to deal with companies selling living trust kits at highly inflated prices.

Education, welfare:
How the money is spent

•State, Local and Federal Financing for Illinois Public Schools, 1994-95, State Board of Education, 100 N. First St., Springfield 62777-0001 (February 1995), 117pp.

This annual publication has long been a "bible" for those involved in public elementary and secondary education. Newcomers quickly become dependent on it for its vast store of funding information and statistics.

The 20-page overview at the beginning of the publication contains information on such things as the proceeds of the state lottery and the impact of the Riverboat Gambling Act. The rest of the volume is divided into six chapters: state education programs (including categorical and special funding programs and school reform measures); federal education programs (such as the School Lunch Act and Serve America); recent state legislation; school district reorganization (with a section on the progress of reorganization since 1980); school finance; and emerging issues.

•Welfare to Work, Department of Public Aid, 100 S. Grand Ave. East, Springfield 62762 or 310 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago 60604-4202 (March 1995), 98pp.

Welfare to work programs in Illinois serve persons receiving AFDC (through the JOBS training program) and adults with no income who receive food stamps. This report, which covers fiscal year 1994, explains the many programs run by the department and shows by means of graphs and tables who is served and how money is spent.

One such program, Earnfare, which was signed into law in August 1992, offers food stamp recipients the opportunity to gain work experience while earning cash assistance. During fiscal year 1994 a monthly average of 3,481 individuals participated in the program statewide, and 2,416 attained unsubsidized employment after their Earnfare experience.