* CNI…
Despite a $350 million increase in base funding for public schools this year, Illinois is falling further behind in its quest to bring all school districts up to adequate funding levels.
That’s according to new data from the Illinois State Board of Education, which announced Friday the details of how it will distribute $9.3 billion in Evidence-Based Funding dollars for public schools.
For the third consecutive year, the number of districts being funded at or above 90% of their “adequacy target” will fall while the overall “adequacy gap” — the amount of additional money it would take to bring all districts up to full adequacy — will increase.
According to the new distribution figures, only 292 of the state’s 850 elementary, high school and unit school districts will be funded at 90% or more of their adequacy target in fiscal year 2027, down from a peak of 327 in fiscal year 2024.
And the overall adequacy gap this year will total $6.8 billion, up from $4.8 billion three years ago.
State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders said that’s primarily due to three factors: rising costs; a decline in one source of corporate tax revenue; and an increase in the number of students identified as “low-income.”
* Illinois Federation of Teachers…
In response to the new data released today, the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) called for the Governor and General Assembly to convene a special session to address the backwards motion exposed by the release of the state’s latest Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) report, which demonstrates that Illinois is losing ground on its legal requirement to adequately fund public education by 2027.
The new data released today by the Illinois State Board of Education shows the state’s school funding gap grew by more than $1 billion in just a single year, now sitting at nearly $7 billion. Of the state’s 936 school districts and organizational units, 714 moved further from adequate funding this year alone. At the state’s current minimum annual investment, adequacy is now fourteen years away, up from eleven years just last year.
The new figures make clear that Governor JB Pritzker and state lawmakers must correct the bare-minimum approach to school funding that is currently failing students, educators, and communities across Illinois.
“Today’s report should serve as a wake-up call,” President of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and Chicago Teachers Union, Stacy Davis Gates, said. “A child entering kindergarten today will graduate from a high school that is still underfunded. Our students are about to report to crumbling buildings, without the food, special education support, and transportation that they need to meet the minimum of a functional school day, let alone the quality school day our students deserve.”
Schools in Waukegan, Rockford, Elgin, Aurora, Peoria, Kankakee, Urbana, Danville, Quincy, Springfield, Belleville, Carbondale, and Marion are farther from full funding this year than they were last year.
The new calculations underscore that underfunding of schools is truly a statewide problem.
To try to address the shortfall, school districts have been making painful cuts that directly harm students and their futures. In northern Illinois, Harlem School District 122 recently closed two community schools because of ongoing financial pressures. In Cicero School District 99, more than 50 educators were laid off in an effort to close budget gaps. In Peoria, large class sizes, fewer support staff, and lack of counseling services are directly impacting student learning.
The underfunding is felt from Pre-K to PhD. Higher education is feeling the same squeeze. In Macomb, students at Western Illinois University are facing skyrocketing tuition while the university cuts academic programs and staff in an effort to manage years of inadequate state investment. Meanwhile, mass layoffs hit Eastern Illinois University in Charleston last fall. These cuts land hardest on regional institutions that serve Black and Brown communities, which have absorbed the effects of chronic underfunding for decades. These are not isolated cases.
Illinois now owes $6.9 billion to fill the gap in its own school funding formula, a gap that grew by $1 billion in the last year alone. At the current pace, the state’s legal obligation to fully fund the Evidence-Based Funding formula has fallen dramatically behind schedule.
At the very least, the state should’ve tied annual EBF increases to inflation.
- Anyone Remember - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 1:07 pm:
===At the very least, the state should’ve tied annual EBF increases to inflation.===
As should all revenue sources. Otherwise, eventually there won’t be enough $$ to honor the EBF promise.
- Demoralized - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 1:09 pm:
I’m not sure what the point of coming up with a calculation that you have no intention of using when determining how much funding to provide was. I fully understand the lack of resources to fund everything you want to do but to come up with a formula and then summarily ignore that formula is idiotic.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 1:10 pm:
===summarily ignore that formula is idiotic===
Show, not go.
And remember, all schools were supposed to hit 90 percent adequacy THIS FISCAL YEAR.
- DuPage Saint - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 1:13 pm:
I think lots of things in state should be tied to inflation Look at the criminal code when I started a misdemeanor was $150.00 then changed to $300.00 I don’t think that has been changed for years
- Yellow Dog Democrat - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 1:23 pm:
=== At the very least, the state should’ve tied annual EBF increases to inflation. ===
The problem is that in state government, funding floors become ceilings.
For close to 20 years I have argued for a two-year budget. Passing the budget in a non-election year helps provide a little insulation from election year politics; and it gives school districts, municipalities, contractors and state agencies much better operational footing.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 1:26 pm:
===little insulation from election year politics===
Have you looked at the map and the super-majority totals?
- I'm Confused??? - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 1:39 pm:
I’m confused. How does setting an “aspirational goal” used to create a formula allocating funding, create a future debt owed to a school district when not fully met?
The problem has always existed where few communities in Illinois ever get the funding they need. Few (if any) districts ever receive “equitable” funding. Most districts do the best they can with whatever they get. But the “shortfall” is not “owed” to anyone when the state fails to meet its goal. It is a case of more need than dollars available to meet that need.
What the state has in the coffers is divided up among the districts. No one is treated fairly. The pain is shared.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 1:42 pm:
===“aspirational goal” ===
Where is that in the statute?
- Annon'in - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 1:46 pm:
CAN anyone explain if the widening gap is due growth in local spending due contracts, growing costs of good and services, etc. The reporting on the ISBE # does not seem to address that. GA continues new chunks of $$$ every year.
- Jack in Chatham - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 1:54 pm:
It would be interesting to see a chart of State spending since Pritzker took office by agency, program and function to try to discern where the spending increases have been. Based on my driving around the State I believe it has been put into road construction and bridge maintenance and State employee contract increases. A lot of one lane due to construction and detours. Kind of a pain. But we do deserve bridges that don’t collapse into a river. If someone has a link to this kind of information please post a link.
- JS Mill - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 1:55 pm:
=And remember, all schools were supposed to hit 90 percent adequacy THIS FISCAL YEAR.=
The EBF that was passed was very different from the initial working proposal. Unsurprisingly, modifications were made to push additional funding to CPS. The target for full funding/adequacy was also adjusted but I do not remember how much that was because it was more than 10 years ago and I am getting old I suppose.
=I’m not sure what the point of coming up with a calculation…=
When we were still under the old GSA system the state had a committee responsible for determining funding adequacy and just like now they ignored it. The more things change the more they stay the same.
=CAN anyone explain if the widening gap is due growth in local spending due contracts, growing costs of good and services, etc. The reporting on the ISBE # does not seem to address that. GA continues new chunks of $$$ every year.=
This growing gap has nothing to do with how much districts are paying their people. The EBF uses a regional factor and a needs assessment to determine how a district should be staffed and funded. It does not take into account what a district decides to pay its people.
You are thinking of the TRS pension issue which is affected by actual salaries.
- City Zen - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 2:16 pm:
The 2027 formula assumes the Property Tax Relief Grant is still in play (only distributing $300 million, not $450 million). I thought the state ended that program in previous year(s).
I realize it’s only $50 million ($48.7 million, to be precise), but that would go almost entirely to tier 1 and tier 2 schools. And I don’t think the grant recipients would miss it all that much.
- Anyone Remember - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 2:19 pm:
===It would be interesting to see a chart of State spending since Pritzker took office by agency, program and function to try to discern where the spending increases have been.===
First thing I look at is The Pension Ramp. For example, from FY 2009 to 2014 the $$ amount quadrupled.
- Sue - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 2:29 pm:
How can anyone when addressing CPS funding explain away the District adding thousands of new staffers- continuing to operate schools with 30 percent occupancy all while the student population declined by 10’s of thousands since 2019- If the Mayor from CTU proposed staff reductions and school consolidations reflective of the student population then maybe the increased funding demands would receive a more favorable reaction- suburban and downstate districts acknowledge financial realities but the Mayor who is on a LOA from the CTU is still acting as if he is a CTU active staffer
- City Zen - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 2:30 pm:
==not $450 million==
Oops, that should be $350 million.
==an increase in the number of students identified as “low-income.”==
That isn’t a good sign for state finances in general, let alone education. That reconciles with the IRS numbers showing people moving out of Illinois have higher incomes than the ones moving in.
- Two Left Feet - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 3:41 pm:
To JS Mill’s point:
At the last minute when EBF was being finalized, CPS’ pension obligation reduced its local capacity calculation. Right or wrong, this was a large number and came in at the last minute and moved CPS from Tier 2 to Tier 1 and impacted a lot of districts. So IL now pays for CPS’ pension through EBF in a sense. But IL only pays like 35% and CPS was given a local property tax to pay some as well without having to go to referendum. TRS and CPS are dealing with different unfunded amounts and ramps. It comes down to control. CPS wants IL to pay the bill, but not give up governance. Remember that the next time we hear that CPS is the only district to pay for its own pension. IMO if IL pays for any more of CPS’ pension, then it gets folded into TRS.
- TNR - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 3:54 pm:
The Sun-Times story today and the Chalkbeat story Friday reported that ISBE changed the way they counted low income students. The Sun-Times wrote that was the “chief” factor in school districts moving away from adequacy, but didn’t quantify how much of a change it caused.
Would be nice to know if that methodology shift was significant and compare the numbers both with and without it.
https://www.chalkbeat.org/chicago/2026/08/08/illinois-state-funding-numbers-released-includes-chicago-public-schools/
- JS Mill - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 4:06 pm:
=So IL now pays for CPS’ pension through EBF in a sense.=
Correct. @Two Left Feet-Excellent post btw.
- Frida's Boss - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 4:09 pm:
Are testing outcomes, graduation rates, college readiness, or anything else that shows where students are at, included in EBF?
Maybe IFT is pushing so hard because the adequacy report takes into account their pensions and salaries in its calculations? Similarly, the state doesn’t set teacher rates; it’s up to local school boards, some of whom are crying they need more state money, especially Chicago, after giving teachers a big, giant raise in salary and future pensions. Plus, they increased their employment numbers with one-time Covid money and are crying that the state needs to pick it up, even though they knew it was one-time funding.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 4:41 pm:
===So IL now pays for CPS’ pension through EBF in a sense.===
And Chicago taxpayers have been funding southern Illinois teacher pensions for decades.
- Sue - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 5:27 pm:
Can’t speak as to the current thinking but historically the respective Boards of The TRS and CPS pension Boards opposed consolidation- the unique treatment of the CPS pension funding has been litigated unsuccessfully several times- BTW- it never is raised whenever CTU complains about the funding- back in the 1990’s the CPS pension was FULLY funded- the City sought the legislature’s approval to suspend annual contributions because Daley and the Council wanted to go on a spending spree without paying for it thru taxes- the CPS pension issues were caused by Chicago and not the taxpayers either downstate or the suburbs- my recollection is CTU went along with the City’s actions
- Just Me 2 - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 8:27 pm:
Have the teacher groups ever had an idea to cut costs, or is every single solution always more taxpayer money?
A special session? Seriously?
- Soccermom - Monday, Aug 10, 26 @ 10:50 pm:
I’d really like to know how much of this increased gap is driven by the sunset of the child tax credit, which brought so many kids out of poverty.