The stimulus process has been justifiably frustrating for Illinois school officials. First they watched billions in construction money slip away and now come concerns that they might not be able to cash in on the full allocations the U.S. Department of Education is projecting.

The rules are pretty clear on how $1 billion in special education and Title I money must be divvied up. The real concern surrounds the $2 billion in state fiscal stabilization funds headed for Illinois, 82 percent of which is earmarked for education, as state Supt. Chris Koch noted in a recent memo (PDF).  At a Senate appropriations committee meeting Thursday night, Illinois Issues Bethany Jaeger reported on advocates’ fears about how that money will be handled:

Higher education officials also expressed the concern that the $2 billion in stimulus funds could lead to a game of shuffle. Judy Irwin, executive director of the Illinois State Board of Higher Education, said there’s a possibility that money could be cut from education in the state budget to make up for shortfalls in other state operations, and then the federal stimulus money would be used to fill in the cuts to education. If that happened, schools would end up not getting much more money than they do now, she said.

In a state where lawmakers have had no trouble shirking responsibility for funding schools, let’s hope they don’t create another shell game like the lottery. The state can’t afford to let its schools merely limp along.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user scottfeldstein.