Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

State per pupil spending jumps from 45th to 24th after reform

Posted in:

Illinois

* Doug Finke on a new report on school funding…

Advance Illinois President Robin Steans said Illinois recently ranked 45th in the country for the amount of money the state spent per pupil on K-12 education.

“We fixed the formula and the state has been putting $350 million into the formula each of the last three years,” she said at a meeting at the City Club in Chicago. “That has bumped us up in a very short period of time to 24th in the country. That is a huge move in a very short period of time.” […]

The direct effect of that influx of money can be measured by the fact that before the formula was changed, 170 districts had less than 60 cents on the dollar of what they needed to adequately educate their students. Now the number has been cut to 34. […]

Despite progress on the funding front, the report underscored areas where education in Illinois is lagging. Steans said the state has a “significant” teacher shortage and the said the state ranks 45th in support for higher education when it ranked 19th just a decade ago. That creates affordability problems, which hurts enrollment.

The impasse just about killed off higher education in this state.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Oct 16, 19 @ 2:30 pm

Comments

And despite this transformative policy, CTU says “not enough”.

“What’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine”.

Comment by Ed Equity Wednesday, Oct 16, 19 @ 3:25 pm
Ed, you seem confused.

The state has made a huge infusion into public education over the last three years. Not much of that has gone into teacher’s paychecks in Chicago. Rahm’s contracts were not a windfall.

Comment by Thomas Paine Wednesday, Oct 16, 19 @ 3:53 pm
Also from the report: “The funding levels tell us we are far from where we need to be on adequacy,” he said, adding that Chicago schools stand at only 64 percent of adequate funding. “We have a real challenge ahead of us.”

Comment by Enviro Wednesday, Oct 16, 19 @ 3:58 pm
=amount of money spent per pupil==

What determines money spent per pupil? I’m assuming that since education is a service provided to people, the main determinant is cost of those providing that service and the number of people served. (as if increasing the cost of a building or a desk would somehow educate a student). When people complain about paying teachers, I wonder how else education could happen? Even computer use needs instruction and supervision………

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Oct 16, 19 @ 4:00 pm
“as if increasing the cost of a building or a desk would somehow educate a student”

While human interaction is very, very important. having a school that is comfortable with proper air conditioned and heated creates better attention in the class. Students learn through audio, hands on and visually, sometimes all at once, requires certain tools like laptops and smartboards as well as training for the teachers to use them. So yes, increasing the cost of a building directly affects the education of a student.

Comment by Jeff Wednesday, Oct 16, 19 @ 4:48 pm
We could pay teachers $300,000 per year and won’t improve outcomes of students in Englewood or East St. Louis.

Comment by Dybalaton Wednesday, Oct 16, 19 @ 5:31 pm
=== We could pay teachers $300,000 per year and won’t improve outcomes of students in Englewood or East St. Louis.===

Why, - Dybalaton -, use your words.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Oct 16, 19 @ 5:35 pm