SPRINGFIELD — State education officials are asking to nearly double the amount of money K-12 education gets from the state.
The Illinois State Board of Education voted Wednesday to ask Gov. Bruce Rauner and the General Assembly to give more than $7.9 billion in additional money to the state’s public schools in the budget that will start July 1.
That would push the amount of general state tax money schools receive from the current $8.2 billion to more than $15.6 billion.
The increase is driven in part by the new school funding formula approved last year that is supposed to direct the most state resources to schools most in need of help. The new formula is designed to narrow the huge spending gap that exists between wealthy and poor school districts. Currently, school districts range from having 46 percent of the resources they need to provide a quality education to 284 percent.
If the ISBE budget recommendation were adopted, it would result in all of the state’s 852 school districts having 90 percent of the resources they need to provide a quality education, education officials said.
“Our new funding formula is grounded in equity and recognizes that children and families across the state are situated differently,” state school Superintendent Tony Smith said in a statement. “But the formula alone does not address the deep inequity we see. We now have to fund this formula to create the conditions for every child to thrive.”
At the same time, education board members were reminded Wednesday that preliminary estimates put the state’s revenue growth — without additional tax hikes — at $600 million to $800 million next year. Nonetheless, the board seeks the large increase to reinforce how much the state needs to put into education to fix unequal school funding.
Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, who spearheaded the effort to change the funding formula, called the board’s request “bold.”
“I view the board’s actions as setting a high bar and reinforcing the need to address inequity. That’s going to take resources," Manar said.
Manar was part of a school funding reform commission that recommended changes to the way the state funds public schools. The commission, though, recommended that additional funding to reach the goal of adequacy should be phased in over a 10-year period.
Gov. Bruce Rauner, who will outline his latest budget proposal next month, is not required to follow the ISBE recommendations. His office said the governor has proposed education funding increases in previous budgets, but also noted that the commission recommended phasing in a large increase over several years.
The state Board of Education is recommending increased funding in next year’s budget even as school districts still wait to get the additional K-12 money put into this year’s budget. Schools continue to receive the amount of money they got in the previous year, but additional money was supposed to be distributed using the new funding formula.
However, there was an error in the funding reform bill that has to be corrected before the new money will start flowing. Lawmakers approved a bill to fix that, but Rauner used his amendatory veto powers to add a new provision dealing with scholarships for non-public schools. Lawmakers will need to address that so work on implementing the new formula can continue.
Manar said he thinks the changes made by Rauner are unconstitutional and won’t be accepted by the Legislature. But since Rauner made changes, the Legislature will have to figure out how to deal with it.
“We should be moving this thing out the door right now and setting it into motion,” Manar said. “The governor’s (amendatory veto) is delaying that process. The longer this takes, the more delay is going to take place. I think we are teetering on a point to where we will not be able to see the impact of new money this school year. That’s unacceptable to me.”