* Senate President John Cullerton talked at length today about the state’s broken school funding formula. From a press release…

Illinois has not updated its school funding formula since 1997. The system has resulted in striking inequities across Illinois’ school districts, rewarding wealthier communities and penalizing impoverished communities where students need more resources to succeed.

In addition, Illinois covers barely a third of the total cost of public education, while most states cover half.

As a result, the performance gap that divides rich and poor students, as well as students of color, ranks among the worst in the nation. Illinois is 42nd in terms of the gap in reading scores among these students, and it falls among the bottom 10 in the achievement gap between black and white students.

Cullerton said Illinois leaders must ask themselves two questions: How much are we going to spend on education, and how are we going to spend it?

“If the money isn’t going to help students in need, it doesn’t really matter how much we spend,” he said. “That’s why our funding formula needs to be overhauled.”

To level the playing field among schools, Cullerton said a new funding approach must include some key principles:

State resources should go to school districts based on the needs of students, with more funds to support children who need extra support – those who live in poverty, have special learning needs and who are English language learners.

There should be a single, straightforward funding model and no more special deals for some districts.

The formula must account for a district’s ability to support local schools with local dollars, and accountability must follow those dollars.

Cullerton noted that no one wants any school district to lose money. But in Illinois’ system of winning and losing school districts, there are far too many losers.

“There’s a reason why the current school funding formula has been in place for two decades. It’s hard to change an entrenched status quo. It requires true, dedicated leadership,” Cullerton said. “The question is whether today’s leaders are up to the task.”

* And then he said this…

The governor has linked things together. We don’t have a budget because he’s got his Turnaround Agenda.

So I can link things together, too.

This is a Turnaround Agenda. We gotta change the school funding formula.

Before we appropriate money for education for next [fiscal] year, which starts July 1st, we have to fix this formula.

* The Question: Do you agree with the Senate President that there should be no approps for K-12 until the funding formula is changed? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.

survey services

*** UPDATE *** House GOP Leader Jim Durkin…

“As a suburban legislator, I remain open to working with the Democrats to fix our archaic school funding formula. At the same time, I hope this means Democratic leadership is now ready to work with us on other structural reforms to put Illinoisans back to work and to bring the budget impasse to a close.”