January 11. 2008

Springfield …Addison School District 4 along with local school districts across this state will finally receive education dollars that were promised to them back in August. The House and Senate both accepted the Governor’s amendatory veto of legislation which would have released education dollars appropriated in the 2008 budget.

“We passed a budget in August that made a commitment to local school districts for an increase in funding for special education and general state aid. It took three months before the Speaker would even call the necessary budget implementation legislation to release these funds and it took the Governor two months to act on the legislation. There was no reason for these school districts to have to wait five months before they received their money,” Reboletti said.

The increase for education in the 2008 budget included: $400 per pupil increase in general state aid, $136.8 million for mandated categoricals, $20 million increase in the Early Childhood Block Grant and an increase in special education personnel reimbursement. The Governor’s amendatory veto changed the school year dates in which a district can claim a special education personnel reimbursement under the increased formula from the 2007-2008 school year to the 2006-2007 school year.

Additional questions can be directed to Representative Reboletti’s office at (630) 530-2730.

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