Last year, Illinois proposed changing how it funds public education. Senate Bill 16 passed the Senate in the Spring of 2014, but was not called for a vote. The conversation is continuing this Spring and there are multiple bills and task forces formed to look at further this year.
Education Funding Reform Act of 2016 (SB1)
Senate Bill 16 has been reintroduced as Senate Bill 1 for the new legislative session. It contains amendments based on feedback received from last year’s discussions. ISBE will be releasing updated projections on how this bill will impact School Districts later this month. The bill is not in its final state yet and more amendments will be added before it is voted on by the Senate in May. My website www.EDGEIllinois.com has more information on this proposal.
Evidence Based School Funding Formula
Senator Jason Barickman introduced a bill in the Senate in February to create an evidence based school funding model. This bill calls for a study that would be published by December 1st of this year that would define this proposed funding model.
An evidence based model makes perfect sense, but will also be somewhat challenging in such a diverse State. For example, one of the goals of the evidence based funding formula is to reduce classroom sizes in Kindergarten thru 3 grades to 15 students or less. While this recommendation definitely seems like it would be good for all schools, the open question will be who will fund both increasing staff in our local schools and the related constructive projects that will be needed to support additional classrooms.
Similar to SB1, additional funding would first be directed towards the School Districts with the highest need that have lower property values and higher percentages of low-income students.
Find out what's happening in Palosfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
House Education Task Force
Earlier this month, Senator Andy Manar who is the chief sponsor of Senate Bill 1 was asked to speak at an Illinois House of Representatives hearing on appropriations for education. Later that week, Michael Madigan announced that a bi-partisan task force will be formed in the House to study education funding. The task force has its first meeting this Wednesday. Because the task force was just formed, there is no more information available at this time on its specific goals and timelines. The hope is that it will be a very open and transparent task force that will allow the public to follow any proposed changes as it moves through the process.
