D228 Wary of Governor's Possible Cuts to Education Funding

Bremen High School District 228 schools may soon have to work with even tighter funding as Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to advocate cutting 3 percent of the education budget to alleviate pension costs, the Chicago Tribune reports.

That equates to a $278 million reduction in funds for high schools and elementary schools, and it will be the third dramatic budget blow from the state to local schools in three years.

"When you have that tremendous amount of money that you have to put in the pension (system), something's got to give," Quinn told the Tribune.

Homewood Rep. Will Davis said lawmakers need to figure out an alternative to education cuts during a House debate last week.

As expected, local schools are not happy about the news.

"Who knows if it's going to come true or not, but it's another $1.6 million from the State that could be taken away from the students," said Superintendent Bill Kendall. "You just do the best you can, but we won't know what this budget number is going to be until we do our staffing. ... I don't see anything impacting us this year, it'll be the following year."

The state is currently paying our $6 billion a year in pensions.

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