Schools and social service agencies throughout Illinois have been asked to do more with less as state funding for a variety of programs has been kept level or cut over the past few years.

This was the message that area parents, students, educators and representatives from local service agencies shared Wednesday night with a group of DuPage state legislators during a town hall meeting at the Wheaton Park District Community Center.

Forecasters are predicting a shortfall of as much as $750 million in this year’s state budget. The result is that numerous agencies have not received the funding they were promised.

Kent Gaffney, director of appropriations for the Illinois House Republicans, said the troubled economy combined with escalating Medicaid and pension costs have put the state on unstable financial ground.

Early estimates anticipate a $450 million increase in revenues during fiscal year 2009, which begins July 1, Gaffney said. But the state’s Medicaid needs will increase by $600 million, and pension payments will increase by about $700 million.

Meanwhile, the state has been cutting funding for programs at schools and agencies that serve the elderly, disabled and poor. Together education and human services make up about 75 percent of the state budget.

Karen Kuchar is executive director of Family Shelter Services, a Wheaton-based organization that serves victims of domestic violence throughout DuPage County. She said the lack of adequate state funding has forced agencies like hers to make difficult choices.

“Social services have been doing more with less,” Kuchar said. “This year at Family Shelter, we can’t keep up with funding cuts. We’re forced to decide which of our very critical services will be limited.”

Recent reductions in state funding also have affected schools.

Sunil Chand, president of the College of DuPage, said that as money from the state has slowed down, the college has had to turn to local property taxes and student tuition to make up the difference.

“We have three primary concerns,” Chand said. “The state commitment to education is becoming a local commitment. Expenses are being passed on to students as what I call an education tax on the user.

“Finally, we have a concern about capital,” he said. “We continue to operate and offer classes in buildings designed 40 years ago. And all the building you see on the campus now is being paid for by everybody in this room. It is being paid for by our local taxpayers and our students. There is not a dollar being paid by the state. ... That is despite the fact that seven years ago, monies were appropriated for our buildings that have never been received.”