By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — When the bell rang signaling the start of fall classes across Illinois, students returned to their schools with the knowledge that agricultural education programs had survived the state’s budget bloodletting – for the most part.

Gov. Patrick Quinn restored approximately 65 percent of the $3 million line item for ag education slashed from the Illinois budget in July. This helped allay the fears of the Illinois Assoc. of Vocational Agriculture Teachers (IAVAT), which expressed concern the decision would eliminate field advisor positions with Facilitating Coordination of Agricultural Education (FCAE) and close their respective offices.

After the Illinois General Assembly voted to grant Quinn discretionary power to utilize some $9 million from the state’s general revenue fund to help plug gaps left in the wake of the budget overhaul, the governor restored approximately $1.95 million to agricultural education, according to Jim Craft, executive director for IAVAT.

Craft said the two-thirds funding for ag education restored by Quinn was great news for Illinois ag students and teachers, considering less than a month ago the ag end line item had zero funding.

“It certainly is good news. (The cut in funding) is going to impact some of our programs, obviously, but we’re going to try and stretch this two-thirds funding as far as we can,” Craft said.

“Essentially, we’re still going to be able to keep our teacher support services in place; we want to be able to help that classroom teacher provide the counsel, the advice, the training and the professional development they’ve come to expect and need. These are things that absolutely won’t change.”

IAVAT support for Ag in the Classroom activities will continue “to the best of our ability,” Craft explained, though some special improvement and curriculum development grants for programs will likely “sit on a shelf” until more funding can be allotted for ag education.

“We appreciate the situation everyone is in, but we can’t (fully support all ag-ed programs) without more funding,” he said.

Teacher salaries for ag education were never really in jeopardy because of the state’s budget cuts, Craft explained. “The line item doesn’t cover the majority of the teachers’ salaries, it is a grant that supports what a teacher does in a classroom, more or less,” he said.

On Aug. 25, Illinois’ two gubernatorial candidates, Quinn and state Sen. Bill Brady, a Bloomington Republican, spoke before farmers at the Illinois Agricultural Legislative Roundtable at a farm in McLean County. Both agreed the method for funding the state’s portion of education is in need of an overhaul. Quinn proposed a tax surcharge to help pay for education.

“I think our state needs to improve its share of funding education from the state level, using a tax based on ability to pay, rather than the property tax, which is not based on the ability to pay,” Quinn told reporters. “Every farmer I’ve talked to in Illinois ... has said to me ‘We’ve got to cut property taxes’ and that’s what I plan to do.”

Brady agreed that relying on property taxes to fund Illinois schools is not a good idea. “There is no question there will be cuts to education funding,” said Brady, hinting that belt-tightening by many school districts will be necessary.

“There are some school districts giving out up to 8 percent pay raises, yet most people in the private sector have gone without pay raises for the past (several) years, with many taking pay cuts to keep their jobs.”

After Quinn reiterated that his plan for an income tax increase will lead to lower local property taxes, Brady countered the idea sounds more like “smoke and mirrors.”

According to the FCAE, 29,048 students were enrolled in ag education programs in Illinois schools in 2009. Of those, 35 percent were female and 90 percent did not hail from a farming background.

There were 319 middle and high school agricultural education programs in Illinois in 2009, of which 87 percent were connected with elementary, middle school and/or adult education programs to promote ag education and literacy activities, according to IAVAT.