In the weeks before schools re-open, state and diocesan Catholic officials are asking parents and all supporters of Catholic education to do an important homework assignment: write to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn.

The message they want sent is a request that the governor use discretionary funding or other avenues to restore “draconinan” budget cuts made by the Illinois State Board of Education affecting the only state programs that also benefit nonpublic schools.

On July 21, the education board — forced by the Illinois General Assembly’s inability to fund specific line items — implemented a $389 million reduction to its 2010 fiscal year budget.

The move eliminated funding for the Textbook Loan Program and the Transportation Reimbursement Program, cut 75 percent of the Educational Improvement and School Safety Block Grant, and reduced funding of the Early Childhood Block Grant by 33 percent.

“That these programs benefiting our schools and families faced a disproportionate burden of budget cuts is both tragic and unfair,” said Zach Wichmann, associate director of education for the Catholic Conference of Illinois.

Upon learning of the cuts, the superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Peoria acted quickly to notify principals. Brother William Dygert, CSC, said that while all the cutbacks will be felt by the diocese’s Catholic schools, the de-funding of the textbook loan program may be the most problematic.

The program helps to ensure that both public and non-public students are learning from the most up-to-date educational materials.

“Nonpublic school parents are taxpayers,” he said. “They send the full share of tax dollars to the state to fund public education while paying out-of-pocket for the education of their children.”

“I wrote a letter and I’d encourage everyone to do the same,” said Brother William. He said that while Catholic schools have little influence on state decisions, “the people with influence are the taxpayers.”

A sample letter is found at catholicconferenceofillinois.org. For those wishing to send the governor a message electronically, Brother William recommended a new, easy-to-use form available online at: http://www.illinois.gov/gov/contactthegovernor.cfm.