Education Roundtable School Funding Priorities

The Illinois Education Roundtable is an organization representing 19 school leadership associations and organizations that represent over 6000 school board members, over 7000 school leaders and over 230,000 teachers and other school employees. The goal of the Education Roundtable is to provide a unifying voice for the advocacy of public education in Illinois.

In the turmoil surrounding Governor Blagojevich’s GRT proposal and the competing funding proposal contained in HB 750, there is a great chance that a status quo response to the needs of Illinois children will be the compromise that emerges from the firestorm over school funding.

To focus this discussion in a positive manner the Education Roundtable has identified four critical funding priorities for 2007:

Special Education Personnel Reimbursement

Reimbursement for special education teachers has remained at $8000 annually for certified teachers and $2800 for non-certified personnel since 1985. The recommendation is to raise this to 1/3 of the average Illinois teacher salary.

Foundation Level

In 2005 the Educational Funding Advisory Board (EFAB) established a minimum “adequacy” level of funding for schools based on examples of schools where 2/3 of the students met or exceeded standards. The EFAB recommendation was $6405 per student and yet the 2007 level is only $5334. The recommendation is to convene EFAB annually to update the recommended funding level and sustain this plan for a long term solution.

Mandated Categorical Funding

Inadequate appropriations for mandated programs such as special education services and transportation result in the pro-ration of funding commitments from the state which requires districts to use more local resources to comply with these legislated mandates. The recommendation is to appropriate sufficient funds to fully fund current categorical levels for 2008.

School Construction

There are still 22 Illinois school districts waiting for the state to fund entitlements from 2002. Most of these district have completed their construction programs and are currently using local funds to pay off the debt incurred since the state has not provide the money promised. Three DuPage districts are waiting for these funds. The recommendation is the state fund at least $1.5 billion in construction funds to clear this backlog and establish a long term plan to fund school construction in Illinois.

It is hoped that all stakeholders can unite and form a consensus to deal with the priorities established. For more information about this proposal contact Dr. Michael Jacoby, Chair of the Illinois Education Roundtable at mjacoby@niu.edu.