Education

Illinois lawmakers are losing a century-old political perquisite -- the ability to award college scholarships. Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation this morning to end the practice after one last round of awards this summer.

"Instead of scholarships going to those who truly deserve them and who were qualified for scholarships to go to college,” the governor said, “too often the program was abused in a political way."

Illinois' new budget includes a 6% reduction in higher education spending. For Northern Illinois University, that means a cut of more than $6 million.

Illinois' association of regional school superintendents will meet next month. Part of the discussion will include how to move forward on eliminating nine regional offices of education.

The Rockford School Board voted unanimously Tuesday night — without discussion or debate — to lower the property tax rate by 58 cents for next year’s tax bills.

The owner of a $100,000 house could see a 10 percent reduction in his or her property tax bill, at a cost of roughly $9.3 million to the Rockford School District in fiscal 2013.