Rod Blagojevich

Governor

 

August 18, 2003

 

To the Honorable Members of the

Illinois Senate

93rd General Assembly

 

I am firmly committed to funding elementary and secondary education. The fiscal year 2004 budget provides over $381 million new dollars directly to school districts, including a $250 increase in the per student Foundation Level.  SB 1321 targets additional resources to school districts affected by tax caps and struggling to make up for lost resources through property tax appeals.  While we have provided millions of new dollars to school districts, we must recognize our budget constraints, and therefore, I am modifying SB 1321 to limit the allocation for state aid adjustments to $20 million of the General State Aid appropriation within each fiscal year.  This amount is consistent with the average allocated in the past four years.  Pursuant to Article IV, Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return Senate Bill 1321, entitled “AN ACT regarding schools”, with the following specific recommendations for change:

 

on page 2, line 4, after “claim.”, by inserting “From the total amount of general State aid to be provided to districts, adjustments as a result of recomputation under this Section together with adjustments under Section 2-3.84 shall not exceed $20 million, in the aggregate for all districts under both Sections combined, of the general State aid appropriation in any fiscal year; if necessary, amounts shall be prorated among districts.”; and

 

on page 2, line 16, after “calculation.”, by inserting “From the total amount of general State aid to be provided to districts, adjustments under this Section together with adjustments as a result of recomputation under Section 2-3.33 shall not exceed $20 million, in the aggregate for all districts under both Sections combined, of the general State aid appropriation in any fiscal year; if necessary, amounts shall be prorated among districts.”.

 

With these changes, Senate Bill 1321 will have my approval.  I respectfully request your concurrence.

 

Sincerely,

Rod R. Blagojevich

Governor