Catholic school lobbyists offer syllabus on Illinois budget
Published Sep 6, 2007
ROMEOVILLE—Catholic Conference of Illinois, the public policy arm of the Catholic bishops of Illinois, is urging supporters to contact the governor to approve House Bill 471 with substantive language that enables non-public schools access to the School Safety and Educational Improvement Block Grant Program. The program, among other things, reimburses schools for state mandated expenses, such as secular textbooks and software, criminal history record checks and health directives.
The rate of reimbursement was higher in the original Illinois fiscal year 2008 budget passed by the General Assembly Aug. 10. However, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich’s veto of $463 million from the budget removed many items, such as the $10.1 million increase in repayment for those in the previously mentioned grant program and a $14 million hike in the Transportation Reimbursement Program that compensates parents for transporting their children to school.
In a press release issued Aug. 23, Blagojevich stated, “A budget should reflect the priorities of the people who elected us to make their lives better. That’s why I’m removing almost $500 million in special pet projects and other spending that we simply can’t afford.”
CCI responded to the vetoes the following day with a press release. “While we applaud the governor’s desire to expand healthcare coverage for those in need, we were shocked by his veto decisions because the programs—reduced or eliminated—address real needs, are not pork nor special pet projects, and the governor can still expand healthcare coverage without making these cuts,” commented Robert Gilligan, executive director of CCI.
Further remarks on the statement continued, “Eliminating funding intended to help non-public schools comply with state imposed health and safety mandates and reducing funds to aid parents of both public and non-public students transport their children to school hardly qualifies as ‘pork,’ but it certainly qualifies as a ‘poke in the eye’ to the 257,000 families of the non-public school community.”
CCI is calling upon the members of the General Assembly to override the governor’s veto and let the proposed budget stand as it was passed Aug. 10. In an Aug. 27 telephone conversation, Zach Wichmann, associate director of education for CCI, explained that the passed budget contained three major educational initiatives affecting Catholic school communities—the Textbook Loan Program, Transportation Reimbursement Program and Educational Improvement and School Safety Block Grant.
The $14 million the General Assembly added into the budget for the Textbook Loan Program to reduce the textbook loan eligibility cycle from three to two years was unaffected by the governor’s vetoes. “This will result in more frequently updated textbooks, as well as potential reduced expenses for schools that frequently need to supplement state funds to purchase needed books,” commented Mary Ann Frank, a legislative action person for the Catholic Schools Office for the Diocese of Joliet and a board member of the diocesan school board.
At this point in time, the appropriations for the Textbook Loan Program remain in the budget, however, the $14 million increase in funds for the Transportation Reimbursement Program were vetoed by the governor. As a result, Wichmann explained that parents that live more than 1.5 miles away from their school and have to drive their children to school will not see their reimbursement doubled, from approximately $130 to $260.
The failed attempt at relieving some of the burden on those choosing a parochial school is disappointing for those in the Joliet Diocese. “Families face increasing gas costs that they must absorb, in addition to rising tuition and other costs associated with a private education,” commented Frank.
Rep. Tom Cross, R-Plainfield, offered a few rays of hope Aug. 31 when he told the Explorer, “There’s a lot of the ball game left.” The Republican leader of the House predicted that it would override those particular vetoes in the first week of October. Then, the ball goes into the Senate’s court and it has to override the vetoes. However, Cross predicted they would have to put a squeeze play on the democratic majority of the Senate to override the vetoes. He added, “The goal is to put some pressure on them.”
Finding funds for new legislation is always a struggle, added Wichmann. For example, Senate Bill 19 was recently passed by the General Assembly and approved by the governor. The legislation that establishes a network of human umbilical cord blood stem cell banks through the Illinois Department of Health is law, but the funds for the system have not been allocated. CCI is currently pushing for the appropriate state resources to make the bank a reality.
