Testimony delivered by MPC South Suburban Coordinator Kristi DeLaurentiis at Kankakee budget hearing
My name is Kristi DeLaurentiis. I am the south suburban
coordinator for the Metropolitan Planning Council.
I also
serve on Governors State University
’s
Board of Trustees, the Ill. Nature
Preserves
Commission,
and
the
state’s
Digital
Divide
Elimination Advisory Committee.
First, I’d like to thank House
Speaker Madigan for calling for statewide Bipartisan Summits on State Finances
and the Budget to hear from constituents. Thank you, Reps. Dugan, Gordon, and
Cultra, and Sen. Halvorson, for giving me the opportunity to speak about the
impact of the governor’s budget proposals and how they imperil the state’s
long-term health.
As you’ve been hearing,
the state’s current fees and taxes have
created an economic climate that makes
Illinois
an expensive place to conduct
business. Instead of spurring economic development, we are further “un-leveling”
the playing field with neighboring states by continuing to increase business
fees. We’ve also been impeding business growth through our failure to adequately
fund our schools. As a state,
Illinois
already lags far behind in providing
the funding needed to ensure that every child has a quality education.
Currently, schools receive nearly $1000 less per pupil than recommended by the
Education Funding Advisory Board in 2002.
Although lawmakers have
invested new dollars into K-12 school funding, it’s barely keeping up with
inflation. Even with the state’s per pupil guaranteed funding raised by $154 for FY 05,
the increase amounted to a mere $2 over the cost of inflation for the year, based
on the Consumer Price Index data issued by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Impact.
In fact, even with additional dollars, last year alone, more than 3,400
teachers were laid off statewide so that school districts could reduce their
spending. Here,
in
Kankakee, that means larger class sizes and
fewer programs. School District 111 had to cut over $1M out of last year’s
budget, while Herscher Community Unit School District 2 made over $467,000 worth
of cuts, forcing both districts to freeze textbook purchases, staff hiring and
development, and technology purchases, as well as eliminate many sports, music,
and gifted programs.
Inadequate funding also
impacts our higher education
institutions.
Governors
State
University, like every other public
university in the state, has been impacted by cuts in funding. We cannot fix the
problems in K-12 education without the qualified and certified teachers that the
public universities graduate each year. Without the nurses, therapists, and
administrators that we graduate each year, we cannot hope to improve our health
care system.
If we don’t adequately
fund our education system, companies will find it harder and harder to compete
in the global economy without educated men and women who are well
prepared.
The governor’s proposed
education-funding plan for FY06 “robs from Peter to pay Paul,” using surpluses
of other dedicated funds. This unstable and unpredictable plan for
school-funding is ill-conceived and not only fails to adequately fund our
schools today, but also jeopardizes other programs.
Last year, the state
was short-sighted in raiding the road fund to fill the budget hole, risking
future projects. Our transportation network is at the heart
of
Illinois’ economic
well-being, and is already stressed by the need for repairs to existing
roadways, the need for new infrastructure, and the growing demand for public
transportation. State leaders must identify funds to match federal programs, not
jeopardize our transportation priorities because it funneled needed
transportation funds elsewhere.
We are also poised to jeopardize our natural resources. Last year, the state
cut programs and slashed funding throughout the Dept. of Natural Resources,
coming close to eliminating open space and parkland funds, known as OSLAD (Open
Space Land and Development) and NAAF (Natural Area Acquisition Funds). Local
officials, mayors, park district directors, environmentalists, and hundreds of
citizens spoke out about how this would impact their communities and were able
to stop further cuts.
Now, once
again, the governor is proposing to remove any "surpluses" from these programs.
But these are not surplus funds. These are existing obligations to units of
local government including park districts, forest preserves, and conservation
districts.
All of these agencies have gone through a
competitive grant application process, have been awarded a grant, and have
initiated projects in reliance on the award.
If the state is not able to
meet its obligations when a project has been completed, the ultimate result will
be a tax increase on the local property taxpayer.
In
Kankakee
and elsewhere, the public has been
left to protect watersheds, forests and recreation areas and to preserve some of
the last remaining natural areas.
Illinois
’ important conservation programs, for
the benefit of future generations, must be restored. Just imagine if previous
lawmakers had not valued the forests, rivers, and open spaces that are currently
protected as part of the county’s beautiful park system. I know that during my
tenure as a nature preserve commissioner, we’ve been able to preserve and
acquire some of the highest quality lands left in the entire state-right here in
Kankakee
-- but
that is all in peril with this proposed budget.
Other critical programs will be
impacted by the so-called “sweeps.” And again, most of the existing dollars are
already obligated or pledged for a specific purpose. An example of just one of
those funds, the Eliminate the Digital Divide Fund, seeks to
address the needs of underserved communities
by eliminating the “digital divide,” reducing disparities in opportunity to
participate in a technology-based global economy. By sweeping these funds (in
addition to more than $800,000 worth of administrative fees charged during
FY04), the state is effecting the ability of residents of low-income communities
to access technology and telecommunications, harming the very people this
program was designed to help. The entire city of
Kankakee
would qualify for this program, as
would Kankakee SD 111 and others throughout the region, which will have limited
opportunity to do so if this fund is “swept.”
For these reasons, I’m here to
ask you not to rely on budget fixes for which some future generation will have
to pay. For our region and the state to be one of the nation’s most prosperous,
we must plan for and build a healthy, sustainable economy.
I encourage you and your colleagues to
consider all feasible, long-lasting options to move
Illinois
forward.
Thank you.