By Kevin Lee

Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD  –  Illinois State Superintendent Chris Koch doesn’t  yet know how many thousands of pink slips school districts will hand out to local teachers and administrators.

But Koch does know that with the state mired in a record budget deficit, K-12 school districts will face some difficult personnel decisions in the weeks ahead.

Koch spoke to House lawmakers on Thursday about proposed cuts to education funding for the upcoming budget.

Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed slashing education funding by $1.3 billion for the next fiscal year set to begin July 1.

“We’re all concerned about that. I think the impacts, and it was acknowledged in the hearing, are going to be devastating to a lot of school districts in being able to maintain delivery of services that they know are needed,” Koch said.

The proposed cut is already having a trickle-down effect – school districts are enforcing layoffs in anticipation of their own slashed budgets for next school year.

Kelly Kraft, a spokeswoman for  Gov. Pat Quinn’s Office of Management and Budget, said school districts may have to lay off 17,000 school personnel in the next few weeks.

Kraft added that many school districts would have to finalize decisions on their non-tenured teachers, administrators and staff in the next few weeks because of the way the state’s contracts with teachers’ unions are structured.

“[The layoffs are] not something that we are advocating. It came down to tough choices and…when you’re not getting $1 billion from the federal government, that takes a big hole out of your education budget,” she said.

For the current budget, the state received about $1 billion in federal stimulus money to go towards education. That money won’t be available for the upcoming budget year.

To help shore up the education shortfall, Quinn is proposing a one-percentage point increase in the state’s income tax that would generate about $2.8 billion.

That would still fall short of fulfilling all of the state’s education needs, according to Kraft.

In addition to the proposed $1.3 billion cut, Kraft said the state owes public schools and universities $1.8 billion as of last month.

But Kraft said the money from a tax increase is at least “a start.”

“This money would go strictly to educating the people in our state. When legislators take a look at the budget, it’s very, very clear that money is not there,” she said.

Quinn called for a tax increase last year, but the Illinois House rejected the Quinn-backed proposal.

Koch said lawmakers and the governor could not rule out any options on the table.

“Revenue is part of that picture, getting federal funds is part of that picture, reductions are part of that picture and borrowing is part of that picture. I think everyone’s trying to look at how we’re going to get through next year, and there aren’t going to be any good answers or easy answers to it,” he said.