SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Illinois schools are getting less money from the state this year and they'll have to wait a long time to collect it.As the school year got under way, state government was already more than $449 million behind in education payments. Rockford schools, for instance, were waiting on nearly $7 million. Schools in the western Illinois town of Avon were due $47,800. The Chicago backlog dwarfed everything else - $112 million. Schools have cut teachers, dipped into cash reserves, postponed purchases, slashed training and delayed paychecks.Tremont Superintendent Don Beard says it has become the "way of doing business." The slow payments come at the same time state and federal funds are down. In all, schools will see an 8.4 percent drop. rFdmm
