A southern Illinois school superintendent there was a mixed bag for educators in the newly approved Illinois state budget.
Vienna superintendent Joshua Stafford says while the General Assembly did allocate $307 million towards evidence based funding, which he says is the lowest amount it has allocated since 2020, the budget did not allocate any new funds to the mandated categorical lines of special education private tuition, special education transportation, regular/vocational transportation, and the Illinois free lunch and breakfast programs.
It is projected this will increase the prorating for these lines. Stafford says for many schools, this will likely result in a net loss of state funding.
He says the Vienna school district covers nearly 350 square miles, making transportation important to students and families. The district also has approximately 50% of its student population on free and reduced lunch, making the state lunch and break program important to students and families.
Additionally, as planned from the beginning of federal stimulus money, the stimulus has also ended in the current fiscal year.
