* We’ve talked about this before, but the CTBA has taken a new look at the Rauner-era school funding ramp…

Hi Rich,

Sending along the release from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA), attached, and the link to the report released today - Fully Funding the Evidence-Based Formula: FY 2024 Proposed General Fund Budget – which finds that Illinois’s K-12 funding formula remains short of its goal of ensuring every school in the state has the capacity to meet the educational and social-emotional needs of all children it serves.

If Illinois continues its current rate of increasing its annual investment in the Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act (EBF), the legislation will not be fully funded in real, inflation adjusted terms until 2038, which is over a decade later than what the legislation calls for. The EBF was passed by the Illinois Legislature in 2017. CTBA’s report recommends that the state’s annual increases in funding for the EBF grow from $300 million to $500 million. That bump in the rate of investment would fully fund the EBF by 2031, and not only benefit districts across Illinois, but also save a full generation of students from attending an underfunded public school system.

An earlier report from CTBA, Educating Illinois: A Look at the Evidence-Based Funding Formula, underscores the value of the EBF: it is working to close Illinois’ significant and inequitable funding gaps between schools in property-rich and property-poor districts, as well as between schools in predominantly white communities and schools that serve predominantly students of color.

Many thanks,
Rick

= = = = = = = =
Richard Melcher
Principal
Melcher+Tucker Consultants

* From the study…

The EBF establishes two ongoing funding metrics for state-level investments in K-12 Education. First, the EBF sets a target of having state-level formula funding for K-12 Education increase on a year-to-year basis by at least $300 million (the “Minimum Target Level”). Note that is $50 million less than the $350 million amount actually specified in Section (g) of the EBF. The reason for this is the Property Tax Relief Grant or “PTRG” established in paragraph 9.5 of Section (g) of the legislation.

Under the statute, the dollar amount of any year-to-year increase in funding the state appropriates to the EBF in a given fiscal year that is in excess of $300 million, up to and including $350 million, is dedicated to the PTRG— not to formula funding. This creates up to $50 million for property tax relief under the EBF for the fiscal year in question. The statute further provides, however, that if any of the funding earmarked for the PTRG is not actually used for property tax relief in a given year, then such unused PTRG revenue will be distributed to school districts as additional formula funding

This effectively reduces the state’s Minimum Target Level for increased, year-to-year formula funding from the $350 million specified in statute to $300 million each fiscal year. And that is precisely how the EBF has been interpreted by the Illinois State Board of Education (“ISBE”) since the EBF was first implemented in FY 2018. […]

Given its current, flawed tax policy, Illinois state government lacks the financial wherewithal to fund the EBF [$1.149 billion each year] by the statutory deadline—or even within a reasonable period of time. Building the state’s fiscal capacity to invest an adequate amount of funding in education within a reasonable period of time is an urgent matter. Which is why it is imperative that legislators in both parties drop partisan differences and work with the governor to resolve the state’s fiscal shortcomings as soon as practicable. Illinois’ school children should not have to wait another two decades to receive an adequately funded public education

* From the statute…

The purpose of this Section is to ensure that, by June 30, 2027 and beyond, this State has a kindergarten through grade 12 public education system with the capacity to ensure the educational development of all persons to the limits of their capacities in accordance with Section 1 of Article X of the Constitution of the State of Illinois.

Thoughts?