By Reggie Clinton - Superintendent ISVI
March 3, 2008

By now most everyone is aware that the Governor of Illinois has made his budget address and shared his proposal for the 2008-09 school year. I wanted to share at this time what that means for ISVI next year.

The Governor has proposed an across the board 3% cut for all state departments. Fortunately ISVI was not included in this. We have been given a maintenance budget which holds our dollars at the same level as for the current school year. This means we will have to continue to look for ways to ensure we are managing our money as efficiently as possible in order to provide quality services to our students. We may not be able to do everything we’d like to do, or at the same levels we have in the past, but at least we are not having to look for ways to immediately cut 3% from our program lines.

The good news in this maintenance budget is that once again ISVI will be given $250,000 to be used for assistive technology. This is very welcome news since we see daily changes in the technology available to enhance our students’ lives. It is also welcome news since a one time influx of dollars does not allow us to continue to obtain newer technology as it becomes available. I am hoping this will be a yearly allotment in order to keep ISVI current as this technology changes.

We did receive one new line item for "new money". This is $117,500 for textbooks. Like the assistive technology we are very appreciative for this funding. ISVI has been updating and reviewing current textbooks on hand to get our textbooks up to date. Of course to do so means we need the funding to support our efforts as materials for visually impaired students are very expensive. This new funding is crucial to these efforts and a show of support for our school. As we move forward I hope that this funding line will also be renewed in future budgets.

ISVI is very appreciative for the continued support for our efforts to update and maintain the assistive technology and textbooks we have available to use with our students. Even though the new budget is not loaded with new dollars, we are fortunate to have been given extra support in these two crucial areas. In these tough financial times for everyone we knew the budget could not include major increases for any department. At the same time, this new budget is by no means finalized. But we are hopeful that as it works its way through the system, and is finalized in the coming months, that the funding levels suggested for ISVI in the Governor’s proposed budget are not decreased. I remain convinced that our leaders recognize the importance of our school and the many good things that happen here on a daily basis to positively impact the education of our students. To that end we remain hopeful that ISVI’s budget will not be included in any reductions that may occur during the budget finalization process.

Back