In Illinois’ next budget, lawmakers in Springfield set aside $350 million more for schools under the state’s Evidence-Based Funding formula.
Since 2017, Illinois has used the formula to send more money to districts with greater student needs.
Rantoul Township High School District 193 Superintendent Scott Amerio said the additional funding has a real impact on the student experience.
“What we’ve been able to do with the evidence-based funding money is hire teachers for our populations that require more resources. We’ve seen a big increase in our ESL [English learner] population,” Amerio said.
Last fall, the state calculated Rantoul Township High School is funded at 66.5% of adequacy. That means it has more of a gap than other local districts between the resources available and what it needs for its population, including immigrant students learning English and students with disabilities.
Amerio said he is pleased with the state budget, but he would like to see Illinois fully reimburse certain mandated services since they can place a financial burden on schools.
“Transportation is not fully reimbursed, so districts are having to find ways to fill the gap,” Amerio said.
He said Rantoul can cover the gap with other state funding, but some neighboring districts get less from the state and are using it all on transportation.
Some groups have criticized state lawmakers for not setting aside more for the formula.
The nonpartisan advocacy group Advance Illinois said it applauded the General Assembly’s commitment during a strained budget year, and that evidence-based funding has reduced the number of severely underfunded districts, like Rantoul, from 459 in 2017 to 56 districts this year. The organization also said that at the current rate, Illinois schools will not be fully funded until 2040.
The Illinois Federation of Teachers has been pushing for a millionaires’ tax that would create an additional tax on net income over $1 million. IFT President Stacy Davis Gates said the budget does not provide schools with enough revenue and there was “not enough courage from legislators at a time when it is so deeply needed.”
Republican House minority leader Tony McCombie said the Democratic majority did not try to pass a bipartisan budget, which undermines trust in politics. But in an interview with The 21st Show, McCombie said Republicans were celebrating the property tax relief that passed as part of the evidence-based funding.