A trip to Springfield last Wednesday by Chicago Board of Education President Rufus Williams and Chicago Public Schools chief Arne Duncan may have netted $58 million.

When Williams and Duncan heard last week that a version of the state's 2009 budget contained $140 million less than they'd requested, they postponed the Board of Education's monthly meeting and rushed to Springfield to plead the schools' financial needs with legislators.

Their efforts may have paid off. On Saturday, the house passed a budget that included $98 million in increased funds, up from a $40 million increase. In all the budget contains about $1.9 billion for Chicago schools.

"We're thankful they heard our concern and did better than what was originally proposed," Williams says. "We needed to respond immediately, so that's what we did."

The issue is not settled however. Yesterday Gov. Rod Blagojevich called for legislators to revise the budget because he believes it is $2 billion out of balance.

"We ask that the budget not be balanced on the future of our children," Williams says.

CPS had asked for $180 million in additional funding to help cover increased teacher salaries, capital expenditures and new program funding. Williams says CPS will use $50 million of its reserves to help cover a 4 percent increase in teachers' salaries mandated by a new Chicago Teachers Union contract. The total cost for those increases is expected to be $100 million, he says.

One week ago, CPS officials were told not to expect more than $60 million in increased funding.

Duncan says the district has not received capital expenditure funds from the state in five years. This year, CPS spent $400 million on building improvements, funding them through city taxes and bank loans.