* Thankfully, Illinois has reporters like Dusty Rhodes, who laid out what’s really at stake with SB 1…

[Gov. Rauner] has been traveling the state, saying will use his amendatory veto to send more money to downstate schools. But a third of the dollars he plans to give downstate districts come straight out of Chicago Public Schools’ block grant, which he plans to cut by at least $200 million. ​That’s not a point he’s been emphasizing in his appearances, and when I asked him about it, he seemed fuzzy on the facts.

“Chicago has received a special block grant that no other school district gets,” he said. “Auburn doesn’t get any of that money. Springfield, Decatur doesn’t get any of that money. And that was put in place more than 20 years ago because Chicago pays its own pensions. So we, all of us in Illinois, taxpayers, have been funding Chicago extra money — $250 million per year, in large part because Chicago pays its own teacher pension.”

In reality, the CPS block grant has no formal relationship to pensions. All districts receive state reimbursement for seven “categoricals” above what they receive in General State Aid. Every district except Chicago has to submit vouchers to get reimbursed for these categoricals. But since 1995, Chicago has been reimbursed via a block grant, based, at least in part, on the reality that submitting claims for thousands of different students was burdensome. Over the years, as CPS enrollment has declined, the block grant resulted in the district receiving $250 million more than it would if it had to submit vouchers for reimbursement.

Rauner’s education czar Beth Purvis has said those extra funds have been audited, and aren’t being misspent. “There’s no implication that CPS is misusing those funds in any way, shape or form,” she told me in May. “We believe that they’re using them for the educational costs of educating those children.”

Nevertheless, all Republican plans would eliminate CPS block grant overages for at least three of those seven categoricals, resulting in a loss of $202 million, which would then be redistributed to other districts. That’s one reason Rauner’s online spreadsheet shows much more generous payouts to downstate schools.

There’s more, so go read the rest before commenting, please. Thanks.

* Related..

* Hinz: Who’s telling the truth about state school funding—Rauner or Dems?

* Crain’s editorial: SB1 is flawed, but it’s a necessary step for Illinois schools