About 160,000 high school graduates took the ACTs in Illinois last year. That cost the state several million dollars, but that might not happen this coming school year if the state budget impasse continues.
While there's no solution for the state budget, students in districts that signed up to take the ACT test will get to take them in the spring. But those in other districts might not be able to unless they pay for the tests themselves.
Dan Woestman is the chief quality improvement officer for Rockford Public Schools. He says about 18-hundred students took the ACT last year, which cost the state about $90,000.
But Woestman says financing the tests for next year is not his biggest worry.
"We've had a really tough time just in the last year with funding and with budgets and we've had to cut a lot already for this upcoming year that, as much as possible, we'd like not to cut," Woestman said.
Johnnie Thomas, the superintendent for Illinois high school District 155, says he feels the district is ready to handle whatever the state hands them financially.
"We had to adjust our budget and create some contingency in case the state did not fund the ACT test," Thomas said.
Thomas says about 16-hundred students took the ACT last year in the district. The tests cost between $35 and $50 per student, which means the district received about $80,000 from the state.
Woestman says the Rockford school district will decide sometime next month whether they will have funding from the state in time. If funding doesn't come, Woestman says the district will have to reevaluate the budget for the year.
The tests cost between $35 and $50 per student.