Elgin U-46 officials say schools may close without state budget

Officials at the state's second-largest school district warn of school closings and program and service cuts in the 2017-18 school year if lawmakers don't approve a state budget authorizing education funding.

Elgin Area School District U-46 receives $150 million annually from the state, including general state aid and categorical payments.

"If they don't pass a budget or a stopgap budget, all the funding stops," said Jeff King, U-46 chief operations officer. "We would be out of money by wintertime. We would use all of our reserves. Our options would be a line of credit or tax anticipation warrants to get us through the rest of the (school) year."

U-46 would need to either levy taxes in the fall and begin borrowing funds to make payroll by the end of February, or else close schools, King said.

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