The
Democratic legislative leaders and the governor agreed to squirrel away $260
million in lump-sum appropriations to various state agencies last spring. But
now some groups are figuring out that a big pile of state money is just sitting
there and they are trying to stake their claims.
This
came to light last month when the Chicago Tribune reported that people
advocating to replace the lost federal money for after school programs wanted
to tap into two separate $25 million lump-sum legislative appropriations to the
Illinois State Board of Education for “grants and administrative expenses
associated with after school programs.”
Trouble
is, the governor committed to the House Speaker and Senate President not to
spend that money until all three could agree what it would be spent on.
The
Tribune claimed it did not receive a response from the ISBE, but a board
spokesperson told me, “At the request of the General Assembly, ISBE is awaiting
their direction before proceeding.”
The
appropriation, the spokesperson said, “was not tied to an existing statutory
program that outlines the distribution method.”
“ISBE
is working closely with leadership in the General Assembly to determine their
intention for adding the new $50 million appropriation for after-school funding
included in the FY25 budget,” the spokesperson said. “We understand the urgency
surrounding after-school programming and remain committed to ensuring that
these resources are allocated in a way that best serves students and families
across Illinois.”
Also,
the federal money the groups told the Tribune they want actually no
longer exists. And the state appropriation doesn’t specify that the $50 million
should go to 21st Century Community Learning Center grants, which is what they
want it spent on. Apparently, that federal money was supposed to be used for
startup grants for the past 10 or so years, but the state has allowed providers
to use it as base, ongoing funding.
And
there’s a whole lot more out there. According to Gov. JB Pritzker’s
spokesperson Alex Gough, “There are lines included in the budget that the
agencies need additional guidance from the General Assembly in order to meet
the intent of the funding.” Legislative sources confirmed that this is the
case.
Aside
from ISBE, the agencies which “need additional guidance” from the legislative
leaders include the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity,
which was lump-sum appropriated $75 million “for grants and contracts
associated with youth employment opportunities.”
The
Illinois Department of Public Health was appropriated $30 million “for grants
and administrative expenses associated with public health programs, including
but not limited to awareness, outreach, and other programs to improve health
outcomes.”
The
Illinois Community College Board was also appropriated $30 million “for grants
and administrative expenses associated with workforce development programs.”
So
far, I’m told none of those agencies and boards have set up any mechanism to
distribute the money. Only the Illinois Department of Human Services has sent
out a Notice of Funding Availability for its $75 million appropriation “for
grants and administrative expenses associated with youth employment programs.”
But no decisions have yet been made.
What’s
going on here? Well, legislative leaders had a ton of pressure from their
members for more spending, but there simply wasn’t enough money to pay for it
all. So, they created these lump sums in order to cram more pressure into less
money.
The
leaders could’ve specified exactly how the money was to be spent, but then the
leaders would’ve committed to spending way more than the available revenues
allowed.
Instead,
by doing it this way, the leaders could tell individual members that their pet
projects were funded, even though they technically aren’t until the leaders
decide what, if anything, to do with the lump sum cash.
The
governor and the ISBE have the power to spend the money now. But these vague
lump sums were part of the final budget deal, which is deemed almost a sacred
covenant. Once a governor or a legislative leader breaks a budget deal, a lot
of trust is lost and future deals become that much harder to make.
Much
the same thing happened last year, when legislators demanded a ton of spending
even though there wasn’t enough money to pay for it.
The
difference this year is that the state is looking at a large budget deficit
next fiscal year, so things will need to change. At the very least, whatever is
funded this year might not be continued next year. At most, some money might
not be spent at all to help patch the upcoming hole.
This article appears in Project censored 2024.
