Below are links to news stories of interest from newspapers that came up during a search today. These links were active at the time of this e-mail, but should you want to save a story, printing it or cutting and pasting the entire article and saving it to your computer is recommended.
State News 
Schools being squeezed by late state payments School districts across central Illinois are slashing their budgets, and in many cases, classes and teacher positions, in anticipation of a sharp drop in state funding for public schools next year. Here’s a look at what area school districts have cut or are proposing to cut for the 2010-2011 year.
Frustrated schools advertising how much they’re owed
Chicago Sun Times – The cash-starved State of Illinois is months late and more than $700 million behind in paying its education bills, and at some school districts, taxpayers don’t have to go far to find out exactly how much their schools are owed. Districts stretching across Naperville, Carpentersville and Rockford have posted signs outside their schools announcing how much the state owes them.
State backlog totals $725 million
Springfield State Journal Register – grade schools totals about $725 million, according to Carol Knowles, spokeswoman for Comptroller Daniel Hynes. The backlog consists of grants for the following categories: $372 million for special education, $153 million for transportation, $5 million for breakfast/lunch, $5 million for summer school, $25 million for textbooks and $164 million for all others. General state aid payments,
School Districts Forced To Lay Off Staff
Harrisburg WSIL (ABC) 3 – School leaders across southern Illinois say they were promised money, but it hasn’t arrived. It is now forcing them to make layoffs. “Everything is cutting into the flesh at this point,” Harrisburg School Superintendent Dennis Smith said. “There is no program that we can cut and say that’s fat.”
Kaneland plan: Lay off 112 teachers to prepare for budget disaster
Geneva Kane County Chronicle – Thus, the workforce reduction plan proposed by administrators is, at this point, a worst-case scenario, Schuler said. Linda Zulkowski, president of the Kaneland Education Association, said the teachers union did not have a response to the proposal at this time. “We obviously did not anticipate that the state was going to pull a last-minute surprise
U46 looking for more state aid
Elgin Courier News – only problem is, as district officials reiterated at a community forum at Bartlett High School Thursday night, Illinois has no money to pay its current bills and state officials plan to cut even more education funding next year. Currently, U46 is classified as a Kane County district since the majority of its property taxes in the past stemmed from there.
District 214 not anticipating layoffs, big cuts
Chicago Daily Herald – We will prepare a balanced budget and there will need to be some reductions, but overall we’re OK. We’re not great, but we’re OK.” The Northwest Suburban High School District 214 school board unanimously approved 2010-2011 budget guidelines and assumptions on Thursday. The budget includes revenues and expenditures each totaling about $223 million.
District 186 has high number of officials Chances are, someone will ask about administrative expenses during the Springfield School District’s public forum Thursday at Grant Middle School to discuss Superintendent Walter Milton’s proposal to cut roughly $5.3 million — including 56 teaching positions. Last school year, the Springfield School District had more administrators per pupil than any other large public school district in the state.
Milton budget plan would cut 56 teaching positions Springfield School Superintendent Walter Milton is calling for elimination of 56 teaching positions – roughly 5 percent of the district’s teaching staff — as part of $5.3 million in budget cuts for the 2010-2011 school year.
School Districts Forced To Lay Off Staff
Harrisburg WSIL (ABC) 3 – the primary election on February 2nd,’” Siebert said. “Guess what we’re hearing now? Wait until after the general election in November.” Siebert says he cannot wait. Thursday night, he and the school board dismissed 17 employees for the next school year. They include a bus driver, assistant principal, nine teachers, three teacher’s aids, and three others.
Forty Triad jobs on chopping block
St. Clair County Journal – 2 million from its annual budget of about $37 million, including 25-0 certified staff and 15-20 non-certified staff. The district has approximately 270 certified and 195 non-certified staff. The school board has to approve the plans. The district is expected to lose at least $1 million in general state aid, as well as significant losses of other state funding like transportation
D-47 board to cut $2.35M from budget
Crystal Lake Northwest Herald – The District 47 school board approved a staffing plan that would trim $2.35 million from the next budget as a first step in addressing the district’s deficit
Unit 5 authorizes early childhood co-op reduction in force
Marion Daily Republican – Carterville’s school board on Thursday completed the final vote to rif Williamson County Early Childhood Co-op staff as a budget precaution. The cooperative’s executive board voted for the reduction in force last week, but as the program’s administrative district, the Unit 5 vote finalized the decision.
CUSD #139 School Board looking for public input on budget crisis
Chester Sun Times – The Board of Education of Chester Unit School District #139 is looking for comments and suggestions from the public about the budget crisis the district is facing for Fiscal Year 2010-2011.
District 118: It may get worse
Danville Commercial-News – cuts are all but guaranteed, could extend past state-funded programs and will likely affect the district’s course for years to come. Superintendent Mark Denman will make a final pitch to school board members at Wednesday’s regular meeting about the necessity of staff cuts in the face of uncertain state funding for next year. If approved, he said an official staff-reduction
Superintendent turnover continues in Pawnee schools PAWNEE — It isn’t uncommon for school superintendents to change jobs in Illinois, but it’s become almost a regular occurrence in the Pawnee School District.
Local schools contending with state’s new unfunded mandates
Chicago Daily Herald – In mid-December, Eddy went to bat again, filing legislation that, if approved, would allow districts to get around complying with certain unfunded mandates with a school board’s vote. The legislation would not apply to special education, transportation, lunch programs or coursework required for high school graduation.
Chicago high school considers required drug tests CHICAGO — Multiple choice. Essays. Pop quizzes. Students at Marist High School may be subjected to yet another test next school year, but it’s one they can prepare for by doing nothing at all. Principal Larry Tucker insists a proposed new drug testing policy at the school isn’t geared toward punishing students at the coed Catholic school in Chicago’s Mount Greenwood community.
Political News
‘Doomsday is here for the state of Illinois’
Chicago Sun Times – To become solvent, the state must enact the largest tax-increase package in Illinois history, whack another $2 billion from already starved government programs and wrest major financial concessions from the state’s unionized work force, a nonpartisan government watchdog contends.
Civic Federation backs big state tax hike — if spending cuts come first Crain’s Chicago Business (blog) – Pat Quinn and his likely Republican challenger, state Sen. Bill Brady. But the candidates’ plans go further. For instance, Mr. Quinn wants big increases in …
Civic Fed urges reform, tax increases to avoid financial disaster WBBM780 – A respected research group warns the state of Illinois is courting financial disaster if it keeps doing what it’s been doing. …
Governments are drowning in red ink, and it’s time to act
Chicago Sun Times – Beginning today, in an ongoing public service series titled “Maxed Out,” the Chicago Sun-Times — in both its news and editorial pages — will report on and analyze this alarming economic free fall. Today, we report on the Civic Federation’s new prescription for solving the crisis, and in an editorial on Page 24 we explain why a state income tax hike cannot be avoided.
Cullerton questions GOP candidate on budget plan Belleville News Democrat – ?Illinois Senate President John Cullerton is challenging Republican candidate for governor Bill Brady to present his own budget plan as the …
Finke: WHEW! Promising open doors next time Peoria Journal Star – Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, and Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, both agreed to the idea. One reason for it was to foster a candid discussion among senators. Whether it did we’ll never know for sure because there were no independent witnesses.
When they aren’t doing nothing, they’re bullying
Elgin Courier News – We can almost call it extortion. At best, it’s political coercion of the worst sort. But that’s what our state lawmakers are up to these days, playing games while Illinois’ rudderless ship of state continues to founder and drift ever farther out into dangerous financial waters.
50th In The Nation And Hiding thejournal-news.net – Members of the Illinois Senate thumbed their noses at the entire state last Wednesday by holding a session in private-closed to the public …
Our Opinion: General Assembly must follow public meeting standards The State Journal-Register – That’s a pretty basic tenet of our legislative process, and is clearly defined in the Illinois Constitution: “Sessions of each house of the …
Some Clarity Coming to Illinois Budget Hole? Chicago Public Radio – Governor Pat Quinn’s office will post the information on the internet as he prepares his 2010 budget plan. The General Assembly recently passed legislation …
Lawmaker proposals could worsen budget hole Illinois lawmakers seem determined this year to prove true the mantra “anything is possible.” Even though state government faces a massive budget problem, dozens of measures being pushed at the Capitol this spring would actually dig the hole deeper.
Statehouse Insider: ‘Transparency,’ Illinois-style There’s probably some academic out there who could write a research paper on the events in the Illinois Senate last week.
Quinn’s courting of Duckworth over Turner sparks ire in black community Chicago Current – Pat Quinn’s recruitment of Tammy Duckworth over Art Turner. Duckworth, an assistant secretary at the US Department of Veterans Affairs and previously the …
Quinn’s lady friend denied state contract Southtown Star – Kristen McQueary – A state board that oversees pension assets rejected hiring an investment manager last week after learning that the firm’s president has a personal relationship with Gov. Pat Quinn, according to several sources familiar with the situation. Monica Walker, who has been dating Quinn for some time, is president and founding partner of Holland Capital Management, a Chicago investment firm established in 1991 that has obtained state contracts previously.
Bernard Schoenburg: Macoupin Democrats need a leader — again MARK EDWARDS has stepped down as chairman of Macoupin County Democrats, forcing the party to pick a new leader for the second time in a matter of months.
Our Opinion: Efforts to weaken FOIA are a mistake
Springfield State Journal Register – There was hope that the passage of reforms to Illinois’ Freedom of Information Act might someday lead to a new culture of openness in state and local government. It’s safe to say that culture change hasn’t yet started to happen.
Palin’s Downstate trip a plus for state GOP?
Chicago Sun Times – Will Sarah Palin play in Peoria? Except for a brief stop in Chicago to tape an Oprah Winfrey show last November, Palin’s first public appearance in Illinois will be April 17 in Washington, a town of about 14,000 near Peoria
Reformer Emil Jones Quinn’s latest backer? Chicago Sun Times – Gov. Quinn and former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones often butted heads. Once, not even two years ago, Jones blew up at Quinn, accusing the then-lieutenant governor of committing “slander” against the Senate.
National News
Obama calls on govs to raise school standards to keep US students competitive
Chicago Tribune – needed to succeed in college or work while they are in high school,” the White House said in the statement, “the nation sacrifices more than $3.7 billion a year in lost productivity and remedial education costs.” The White House said the governors have been working on the president’s Race to the Top program, which rewards school systems that raise standards and demonstrate
The poll that pushed the political boundaries Nevadans are meek, brutalized into submission by the Great Recession and a political culture dominated by powerful interests. So it’s almost shocking when someone stands up and says, “No more.” That’s what the teachers union has been doing the past two weeks since Gov. Jim Gibbons’ State of the State address and the Democrats’ response, if it could be called that.
FBI said to be probing Pa. webcam case law-enforcement official with knowledge of the case says the FBI has opened a criminal investigation into a Pennsylvania school district accused of activating webcams inside students’ homes without their knowledge.
Fixing the Senate by Forcing Real Filibusters
One way to end the gridlock on Capitol Hill is to call the minority party’s bluff on blocking legislation
Haitian PM: We Can Rise Out of Our Postquake Squalor
As he prepares to sell his country’s recovery plan abroad, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive talks to TIME about the hopes and fears of his people
Canada, already underachieving in the medal tables in the Games it’s hosting, suffered a rough hockey loss to the upstart Americans. Can the country revive its crushed psyche?
Can Obama Fend Off the ‘Failure’ Attacks?
Obama’s critics only have it half right. His presidency is in crisis. But it isn’t too late to turn things around
Box Office Weekend: Shutter Island Opens Big
Its opening was the biggest debut weekend for any Scorsese picture, and any DiCaprio picture — yes, including Titanic
Most Viewed Articles on washingtonpost.com
1) Daughter says pilot in Texas IRS crash was a hero
AUSTIN, Texas — The daughter of a man who crashed his small plane into a building housing offices of the Internal Revenue Service called her father a hero for his anti-government views but said his actions, which killed an IRS employee, were “inappropriate.”
Her borrowed suggestion for Obama on Iran should sound an alarm.
3) Obsessed with smartphones, oblivious to the here and now
Jay Ferrari was squatting on a step-stool next to the bathtub, which held his 4-year-old daughter and a rising tide, when he sensed an opening to use the Sicilian Dragon defense in his iPhone-to-iPhone chess match against his neighbor.
No matter what happens on Thursday, Democrats must not give up on health-care reform.
5) Fast-food breakfast sales hit snooze as fewer head to work
The nation’s high unemployment rate has thrown millions of people out of work, scared shoppers away from stores and threatened the economic recovery. Now it’s taking a bite out of breakfast.
6) A family lost, and a mind that will never be at peace
SEOUL — “I am fool.” That self-assessment comes from Oh Kil-nam, a South Korean economist who moved to North Korea a quarter-century ago, dragging along his unhappy wife and two teenage daughters. He then defected to the West, leaving his family stranded in a country his wife had called “a living…
7) U.S. leaves Canada red, white — and blue
VANCOUVER, B.C. — When U.S. Olympic hockey player Jamie Langenbrunner scored in the final period Sunday night, a shot ricocheting off of his skate blade into the net, he just about jumped out of the arena with joy. This wasn’t exactly a miracle on ice, but elements of it had become pretty
8.) Snow days weren’t quite what teens imagined
With the record snowfall this winter, classrooms across the Washington area have spent weeks on hiatus. But when classes have been canceled, some teachers have moved their lessons to the Internet and pressed on — and they’ve been pleasantly surprised by the results.
9) Insurance-rate hikes targeted
President Obama will call for new government power to regulate insurance-rate increases as part of comprehensive changes to the health-care system that the White House will unveil on its Web site Monday, senior officials said.
The nation’s financial struggles should serve as a warning sign for other welfare states.
Word of the Day for Monday, February 22, 2010
fractious \FRAK-shuhs\, adjective:
1. Tending to cause trouble; unruly.
2. Irritable; snappish; cranky.