HARRISBURG, Ill. (AP) — School officials in Illinois are worried that lawmakers’ nearly yearlong fight over a state budget could spill into summer and force some districts to close their doors in the fall.

If it happens, it would be the most traumatic consequence of the impasse between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and majority Democrats, and mark a new low for political dysfunction in the nation’s fifth-largest state.

Mike Gauch, the superintendent in Harrisburg, says without state money his district could remain open until November or December at best. Other superintendents say their schools won’t make it that long.

Illinois is the only state without a budget for the fiscal year that started July 1.

School funding is at the center of the fight as November statehouse elections loom.

 

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