Local schools will lose millions next year

The Southland's elementary and high schools, already struggling through this year's late state aid payments, layoffs, school closures and other cutbacks, would be walloped by Gov. Pat Quinn's proposed state budget. Revealed Wednesday, public schools take a beating in 2011. Education overall would see $12.34 billion, a $2.4 billion cut from this year.

"The real price tag could be anywhere from $500 to $700 less (per student)," House education committee chairman Linda Chapa LaVia told reporters.

Under the conservative figure, we'd see deep losses for local schools. Here's a sample of estimates based on 2009 School Report Card data.

Mokena District 159, which just decided to cut 15 teachers, would lose more than $1 million. Harvey 152 loses $1.25 million. Oak Lawn-Hometown 123: $1.5 million. New Lenox 122: $2.8 million. Among high school districts, Lincoln-Way HS 210 would be out $3.55 million and Community Consolidated HS 230, serving the Orland, Tinley Palos area, loses $4.35 million.

These losses would blow huge holes in school budgets, and administrators are still trying to come to grips with this year's problems.

In recent weeks, Mokena schools laid off teachers and cut extracurricular programs. And Oak Lawn-Hometown school officials decided to close a school and put seven teachers out of work. In the coming months, expect to see the number of layoffs grow significantly throughout the region.

When seeking adequate financial support for education, Southland schools have long been Illinois' bastard stepchild. With the state in arrears on payments to local districts this year, school officials have faced up to difficult cuts. But the bloodletting is far from over.

Millions of dollars in federal stimulus aid, rather than being used to expand educational opportunity, have been used to patch holes in local budgets while the state falls further behind in its obligations. And next year, there will be no federal stimulus money to prop up our classrooms.

How are schools handling this year's woes?

Just this week, in Oak Lawn, district officials decided to close Brandt School, used for years as a science center, and cut seven teachers. This will save the district $1.2 million.

Earlier this month, New Lenox District 122 imposed additional fees on students, including a $25 athletic fee on every sport played and a $100 band fee. But these efforts to pick parents' pockets are just a pittance compared to the cost of such programs and the projected shortfall in state aid.

In Mokena 159, whose bid for a tax hike was rejected by 60 percent of the voters during this severe recession, parents are angry with the school board for moving ahead with cuts. They want to negotiate to keep extracurricular activies, such as band. The editor of the local newspaper, the Mokena Messenger, is trying to foster a community conversation on the issue.

And well he should.

But the problem defies simple answers.

And the horizon grows bleaker as the enormity of the state's budget woes threatens. The state's inability to adequately finance its schools, long felt in the region's poorer communities, will now hit home in the middle-class districts of the Southland.

No one will escape this storm.

Want to know more?
The State Journal-Register in Springfield breaks down the state's projected deficit, pegged at $11.5 billion next year.

Dennis Robaugh can be reached at dennis@southlandsavvy.com

'A man of bronze' looks for work

David Blaha, a machinist by trade and a job seeker thanks to this recession, exemplifies the spirit of the Southland in his quest to find new employment. Undaunted by the challenge, comforted by the support of fellow job seekers and job clubs sponsored by the Catholic church, Blaha has faith that he'll find work.

"I think prayer helps me the most," the Orland Hills man says. "You have to believe it’s going to get better. You can't give in or give up."

In a crisp, vivid portrait, reporter Lauren FitzPatrick tells the Orland Hills man's story, one that can be told thousands of times over throughout the Southland in this time of high unemployment.

In the rear of the Orland Park Public Library, lifelong machinist David Blaha reports to work each morning. The silence is a world away from the din of the machine shop that laid him off nearly two years ago. The tools of his new trade are a laptop computer and the library’s reference books that offer advice on resume writing and prepping for job interviews.

He tinkers with applications now. He fixes appointments, all hoping to land another job as a maintenance machinist. Blaha, 53, of Orland Hills, now lives by this routine.

"Looking for a job is a full-time job," he whispered, mindful of patrons reading nearby. "That's why I get out of the house and come here." ...

Blaha adores machines. They’re in his blood. His Slavic surname translates roughly to "man of bronze." His father, a master machinist, lost his hearing working all his life in a machine shop. He can look at a part and visualize the mold that made it. And making machines work again thrills him.

"I have a natural knack with machines," he said. "Repairing something is like bringing it to life."

Read more at the blog Termination Date.

The Little Guys moving to Mokena

By Bob Bong
Southland Savvy

The Little Guys, an electronics store that has operated for the past 15 years at 18305 S. Halsted Ave. in Glenwood, is moving to Mokena.

The store will move in the next month to new digs in the Hickory Creek shopping center at 19031 Old LaGrange Road, Mokena officials said Monday night. The store will occupy the former site of Trendsetters College of Cosmetology, which moved to Tinley Park last May.

The Little Guys