School Funding Legislation

Illinois state seal - click to see all state seals

Recently a group of area K-12 superintendents and business officials from the area (North Shore and NW Suburban areas) met with State Senator Julie Morrison and State Senator Daniel Biss along with two representatives of the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). Senators Morrison and Biss invited us to attend in an effort to get feedback on a proposed piece of legislation called SB16 sponsored by Senator Andy Manar. The bill sounds good as it calls for a weighted student formula to allocate state funding across the state. What’s bad is that it seems to fly in the face of the Illinois Constitution’s declaration in Article X that “…the State has the primary responsibility for financing the system of public education.”

And what concerns us in Deerfield and the general local area is that SB16 presents a scenario where districts like ours LOSE scarce state dollars. Under the proposed legislation, proposed by the way, without clear financial impact models from ISBE, could cost DPS109 more than $2,000,000 each YEAR. Currently the Board of Education in DPS109 has been able to balance the budget, maintain facilities, support exemplary education, and actually lower the property taxes (this year) because of the current system of funding.

No one argues that the current system of funding is adequate or equitable, but those of us paying high property taxes will argue that any funding scheme from Springfield that cuts state funding does not take into account the effects or impacts of such bills on local taxpayers and local business. During our meeting wiht the senators and the ISBE officials we asked how a bill for education funding could come forth without review from the Education Committee, we were told that this was “fast track” legislation put forth to force a conversation. We applaud the senators for reaching out to we local educational leaders – I only hope our meeting was not too little too late!

I’m proud to represent our school District with other local leaders and legislators. I encourage readers to stay informed – school funding affects us ALL!

Link to ISBE MEMO

Link to ISBE presentation on SB16