There’s good and bad news in the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) new report, “Grading the States.” The good news: the group raised the grade of Illinois’ mental health system. The bad news: the state still earns a D.

According to NAMI, Illinois made an effort to help keep the mentally ill out of jails by linking some courts to mental health services and training select police to work with community mental health providers. But the state is still struggling to deliver very basic services, in part because Illinois ranks 30th nationwide in per capita mental health spending. “We recognize that Illinois is in an extreme budget crisis,” NAMI Illinois executive director Lora Thomas told the Daily Herald. “But if we don’t spend money effectively, we spend more money in emergency rooms, hospitals, jails and prisons.”

The report is well-timed for mental health patients and public employees fighting to preserve four South Side mental health centers slated to be closed and consolidated with the remaining facilities.

Like city and state governments everywhere, Chicago is dealing with a gaping budget hole. This year, the Illinois Department of Human Services cut funding for the city public health department by $1.2 million (partly as the result of a computer glitch). The department also lost $1.3 million in private grant funding.

Even so, the Daley administration’s decision to cut critical social services to the bone is questionable, particularly when millions are being earmarked for the mayor’s favored development projects.

As patient Fred Friedman told the City Council’s committee on health yesterday, traveling in excess of two hours for an appointment presents a major obstacle to care for some of the city’s poorest and most vulnerable:

FRIEDMAN: I’m here to tell you that I couldn’t get out of bed. And if somebody told me I had to go three more miles, or if I had to go see a new psychiatrist, I just wouldn’t do it.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31, which represents the health department employees, agrees that the proposed closings haven’t been handled properly. Yesterday, the union announced that it has filed an “unfair labor practice” charge against the city for failing to fulfill its contractual requirement to bargain with the union in advance of closing any facility or relocating workers. Union officials also echoed the concerns of mental health patients during the hearing. From a press release:

The closures were announced “without any input from advocates, consumers, community leaders, or the employees who provide mental health treatment to those most in need,” AFSCME policy director Anne Irving told the committee. “The Department of Public Health is demonstrating a lack of concern for those most in need of help—low-income, minority, mentally ill people.”

Several aldermen agree. Bob Fioretti (2nd Ward) complained, “I feel like we were taken in this whole process,” while Ald. George Cardenas (12th Ward) argued that the city should call on Springfield to restore funding for the centers. That’s a good start. But more elected officials need to step up and object to letting these services fall by the wayside, especially as demand for them rises.