Proposed legislation in Springfield that would dramatically change how school districts are funded by the state has Oak Park’s school districts worried.
By all accounts, the School Funding Reform Act, also known as Senate Bill 16, likely won’t come to a vote this year. The bill would create a new, single formula to fund school districts in Illinois, one result being less affluent school districts receiving more state aid than wealthier communities. Districts like Oak Park would take a significant hit in the amount of state aid received under the new “means-tested” formula.
The number of low-income and special-education students a district has would factor into that formula, which would be phased in over four years so districts can adjust to the new funding levels. School districts will also have to show how state funds are used to help certain student groups, such as low income, via more stringent accounting reporting.
Under the bill, the majority of state funding to districts will be means-tested. Under the current system, districts receive aid through several funding formulas calculated by the state. SB16 would create a “foundation level” of aid with provisions for additional money for certain student populations, such as special ed and low income.
The bill is currently stalled in the Senate and unlikely to come before the House this year. It came up for a brief discussion at the May 13 District 97 Board of Education meeting. In one version of the bill, D97 could lose upwards of $9 million annually in state aid. Another version of the bill would result in a roughly $4-million loss, which D97 members says is still major. Members noted that the state’s current funding formula must change but questioned whether SB16 is the solution.
Oak Park and River Forest High School, which historically has taken less state aid than D97, could see a loss of $1.7 million annually.
But the bill’s impact isn’t simply about rich versus poor districts, noted Erika Lindley, executive director of ED-RED (Education Research Development), an advocacy group that represents suburban school districts in Illinois.
A school district like Oak Park’s D97 relies heavily on state aid even though the community overall is affluent. The real key is not the community but the school district’s budget, noted Lindley, who said any proposed legislation must include “offsets” for the districts to be able to absorb those lost funds, such as softening certain state mandates placed on districts. While ED-RED has concerns about SB16, Lindley noted it was a good step in starting the conversation about changing how Illinois funds its schools.