BLOOMINGTON - Tight school budgets over the past few years have changed summer school programs.

Traditional summer school programs, "unless self-sustaining" by tuition or state funding, are among the first things to be cut by school districts when an economic crunch comes, said Chuck Harsteil, Unit 5's director of special education.

One such self-sustaining program is at University High School in Normal, which now draws students from throughout Central Illinois who need to make up failed classes or take classes they otherwise couldn't fit in their school-year schedules. Often their cash-strapped home school districts have cut summer school.

Summer school classes have been "off and on" over the years as funding and community educational needs change, Hartseil said.

In many elementary and middle schools, summer school focuses on students who are in special education or are learning English as a second language - two programs for which state and federal funding is available. Some also focus on math and reading skills as tested under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

U High, a laboratory school for Illinois State University's College of Education, has seen an influx of students from such districts as Stanford-based Olympia and El Paso-Gridley, where budget cuts closed summer schools in the past four to six years.

Of U High's 214 summer school students this year, only about 40 percent were U High students during the regular school year. Students came from throughout McLean County and as far away as Clinton.

U High's summer school lets future teachers work with students in a real classroom setting under the guidance of experienced teachers. They also can tutor the high school students individually.

"It's good for the (high school) students; they get more one-to-one help," said Andrea Markert, University High School Summer School principal.

One feature that draws students from small, rural schools is the chance to take unusual classes, such as Crime, Justice and Trials. That popular class gave students the opportunity to visit a jail, courtroom and coroner's office and take part in mock trials.

"We love it too - working with students who we don't work with during the school year," said Markert, who teaches biology and chemistry at U-High during the school year.

About 400 Unit 5 students are in summer school at Parkside Elementary and Parkside Junior High schools this month.

That's a slight increase over last year, Harsteil said. In the past four years, enrollment has increased slightly annually.

The number of English language learners has been "a real area of growth" in the past three or four years, he said.

Over the years changes in the offerings are made considering the differing need of students, he said. That included adding several years ago the six-week half-day autism camp for a growing segment of the population.

Extended School Year, the program for special education students, helps students maintain the level they achieved through the school year, not regress, and prepare for the coming year, said its director Darrin Cooper. Karrah Jensen is summer school director at the elementary school.

Both summer schools started July 7 and run to July 31.

At Bloomington Junior High school, the emphasis was on the basics this summer.

"It's not what I expected," said Christine Adams, 14, a BJHS summer school student. "I really like it: seeing friends, and learning stuff I didn't know."

She was required to take reading and math so she could start Bloomington High School this fall.

Adams was one of 274 pre-kindergarten though junior high school students who attended summer classes at BJHS this summer.

"We've been able to help the kids with the basics," said Jeff Geringer, summer school principal. He's assistant principal at the junior high the rest of year, often dealing with discipline problems.

At summer school he is greeted with a hug from preschoolers and smiles from youngsters in every classroom he enters.

"The vast majority aren't required to be here," he said of the students. It's a family choice, often recommended by teachers. It helps students with both standardized testing and personal achievement.

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University High School

Who: 214 students from across McLean County and a few from nearby counties.

From where: University High School, 39 percent; Normal-based Unit 5, 37 percent; Bloomington District 87, 16 percent; and other areas school districts, 8 percent.

Programs offered: 11 different courses; 2 sections of two. Driver education offered separately.

Educators: 10 teachers and 20 to 25 Illinois State University College of Education students (future teachers)