IL plans to cut funds for buses

CASEY, Ill. (WTHI) - Illinois' Governor Pat Quinn is proposing massive cuts to public education for next year. We've already told you how locally how schools are planning to teach the same for less. One school district made close to a million dollars in cuts, and still isn't out of the woods yet.

"So we reduced a total of 12 positions; three of those were support staff, one was administration and the remainder were certified classroom teachers,” Dee Scott the Superintendent of the Casey-Westfield School District said.

Scott said the reduction in teachers was the only way to deal with the proposed amount of general state aid they expect to receive from the state. Only 82 percent of what they need to operate.

As you can imagine, keeping the programs while losing teachers will make classrooms nearly double in size, as to the number of students in them.

"The junior and senior high schools is where you'll see the biggest jump especially in the high school which probably had an average class size of 15 and you'll see those jump up around 25,” Scott said.
   
As the cuts balance the budget for Casey Westfield another proposed cut by Governor Quinn would reduce transportation funds for all schools. Down to 19 percent of what they use currently.
    
To put a number on it, that would be from 265,000 dollars for buses down to 49,000 dollars to get rural students to school.

"If you're only getting 19 percent of what you need to run the program, it has to come out of your education fund so now you have to cut teachers even more,” Scott explained.
    
The only other option is to force these kids to find another way to get to school and for districts like Casey-Westfield they get the same answer for help from Springfield.

"Everybody keeps saying there's no money and its going to be painful and that's what you hear over and over again,” Scott explained.

It’s an answer confusing even educators.