Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s proposal to require community service for high school graduation has not materialized as proposed because of the state’s current fiscal crisis, officials said.

The proposal, which was part of the governor’s 2004 State of the State address, would have required high school seniors to complete 40 hours of community service to graduate.

Rebecca Watts, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education, said the bill did not make it to the house for a vote.

“I don’t remember there being a bill pushing for it,” Illinois State Rep. Robert Pritchard (R-Hinckley) said. “It’s like a lot of the governor’s ideas: Where’s the money?”

The governor proposed each high school receive $10,000 to implement the program, costing the state a total of $6 million.

“We’re $2.1 billion in the hole and now you’re going to come out with a new program to be funded, I don’t think so,” Pritchard said.

District 428 School Board Member Andy Small said the board has not discussed the issue.

“In this time of fiscal problems throughout the state school systems, you’d have to wonder if that money is well spent when schools are struggling to keep class size down to a manageable level,” Small said.

“Ten thousand doesn’t go very far,” Small said. “To me, it doesn’t sound like a lot to get a program up and going.”

The governor’s address reported a connection between community service requirements and higher grade point averages in 83 percent of high schools.

Small said the correlation did not surprise him as students that participate in extracurriculars are those who do well in class most of the time.

“Right now, we’re really strapped with trying to provide basic math, science and English,” said Larry Stinson, principal of DeKalb High School, 1515 S. Fourth St. “We can’t take the money and spread it somewhere else.”

“It’s a great idea on paper, but any mandate like that needs to be fully funded,” Stinson said.

Stinson said implementing this program and ensuring accountability would translate to personnel costs for the schools.

“In a small community you don’t have nursing homes and hospitals,” Stinson said. “There’s going to be a responsibility to find all those things.”

Stinson said he was concerned whether students who met all other graduation requirements would have to be held back for not meeting community service requirements.

DeKalb High School senior Ami Goswami said such a requirement is unfair because a lot of seniors are devoted to other activities, including volunteering.

“Some people don’t want to experience that and they should be free to do that,” Goswami said.

Senior Julie McAnly said that most seniors already had a lot on their plate, such as worrying about FAFSA and money for college, and community service should not be tacked on with that.