Legislation co-sponsored by Illinois State Representative Nicole La Ha ensuring all children with disabilities receive the support and resources they need to thrive academically now awaits the Governor's signature.

When enacted, Senate Bill 3606 will create a fair reimbursement rate for special education day schools. The bill addresses tuition payment adjustments for children placed in separate public special education day schools. It adjusts state reimbursement rates going to public schools for high cost, high need, special education students. Currently, only public schools sending high need special education individuals to private special education schools get any reimbursement. With the passage of SB 3606, all school districts will be eligible for state reimbursement.

State Senators Jason Barickman and Dan McConchie, and State Representatives Avery Bourne and Bob Pritchard today released the following statement in response to State Senator Andy Manar’s Springfield press conference:

"We've long known that Democrats would attack the Governor's amendatory veto. The question is whether they'll work with us in good faith on a bipartisan agreement. The time for pointing fingers is over. We need to work together, in good faith, to reach a bipartisan solution to this unnecessary crisis. Schools and school children need to know that their government is being responsive to their needs. We stand ready to work together to finish the job. There's too much at stake to wait any longer."

Where would you rather your hard earn tax money be directed, into the classroom for kids or to prop up Chicago’s mismanaged pension system?

A new 32% income tax increase just went into effect on July 1 and Chicago politicians want to use it to bail out a pension system they failed to fund instead of using it to educate children across the state. The once bipartisan SB1 was a plan that would have equitably funded all schools in Illinois, ensuring each and every child was treated fairly. However in the waning moments of regular session, Chicago interests hijacked the bill and earmarked some of the money for the City of Chicago.

An effort to get a clean bipartisan equitable funding formula back on track emerged with HB 4069. Every district is treated fairly and benefits at the highest level under HB 4069. To see how your schools benefit click here:

To twist a cliché, when Chicago sneezes, Illinois catches a cold.

Such could be the case with two Senate bills that attempt to change the outdated and imbalanced formula that determines how much state money goes to Illinois school districts.

The legislation has sparked something of a tug-of-war in Springfield. Supporters of the measures, Senate Bill 1 and Senate Bill 1124, say they guarantee that enough resources are given to every school district, regardless of where they are located.

But some critics see them as a bailout of Chicago Public Schools that faces a financial black hole and ballooning pension obligations. Read the rest of the editorial in the Pantagraph.

To twist a cliché, when Chicago sneezes, Illinois catches a cold.

Such could be the case with Senate Bill 1, crafted by Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, that tweaks the archaic and imbalanced formula setting how much state money goes to Illinois school districts.

The legislation awaiting approval from GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner has sparked a strong tug-of-war in Springfield — which is really saying something in a state that hasn’t had a proper budget in almost three years.

Supporters say it guarantees any new funding allocated to education be sent to school districts most in need. But critics see the changes as a pure bailout of the Chicago Public Schools, which faces a profound financial black hole and ballooning pension obligations.

In other words, it’s the vintage Chicago-versus-downstate narrative that thwarts so much of our state’s evolution.

Chicago’s sniffles are being heard far and wide, and they might wreck the whole thing. And that’s bad for Decatur schools.

Here’s why: For school districts with high poverty rates, changing the school-funding formula is the clearest solution to making sure money is directed to students in a fair way.

Read the rest of the editorial by the Herald&Review. 

BUDGET
Key Republican Legislators Renew Urgent Call for Compromise Balanced Budget Plan. Upon returning to Springfield for special session on Wednesday, House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), Senate Deputy Republican Leader Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), Assistant Senate Republican Leader Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington), Senate Republican Caucus Whip Karen McConnaughay (R-St. Charles), Senator Dale Righter (R-Mattoon), Deputy House Republican Leader Patti Bellock (R-Hinsdale), Deputy House Republican Leader Dan Brady (R-Normal) and House Republican Conference Chairperson Tom Demmer (R-Dixon) offered a reminder that a compromise balanced budget with reforms is on the table and ready to be enacted.

All Illinois school districts would benefit from a more equitable distribution of state education dollars under a compromise proposal introduced by State Representative Bob Pritchard (R-Sycamore) to fix the state’s broken school aid formula and end the budget stalemate, according to data released by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE).

The legislation, House Bill 4069, is a true compromise that embraces the priorities of lawmakers from both parties and both legislative chambers, and reflects the recommendations of the Governor’s bipartisan, bicameral Illinois School Funding Reform Commission.

State Rep. Avery Bourne today released the following statement on school funding reform upon the House's return to Springfield for the final month of the spring legislative session:

For years, multiple legislative commissions and committees have studied the obvious inequities of Illinois’ school funding system. As it stands now, Illinois has the most inequitable school funding system in the nation. That means students are essentially forced to play a zip code lottery that will determine whether they learn in classrooms equipped with an iPad per student or one where students share decades old textbooks. This is a challenge we need to tackle as the legislature, and there is bipartisan agreement that it must happen soon. Read more.

Governor Bruce Rauner’s Illinois School Funding Reform Commission today approved a framework that allows members of the General Assembly to create a new school funding formula.

“Illinois is another step closer to fixing our broken school funding system,” Governor Rauner said. “I applaud the Commission members for putting politics aside to advance a bipartisan framework that can serve as an immediate roadmap for legislation. The framework ensures all public school children in Illinois receive equitable funding, no matter where they live.  We look forward to working with members of the General Assembly to quickly resolve the outstanding issues identified in the report with the hope of enacting a bipartisan school funding reform package as soon as possible.”

It's not an overstatement to say that the economic success of our state, and of our citizens, hinges on our progress toward a healthy state public education system. Our next generation of business leaders is entering kindergarten today. The schools they attend must prepare them with the skills they need to complete the postsecondary degrees and credentials that employers demand.

I saw this need firsthand at CDW, even though nearly two-thirds of our co-workers had a four-year college degree. As a result, we invested in specialized training for thousands of employees, simply because they did not have the background in math and technology needed to sell, maintain and configure hardware and software. Read the rest of the opinion piece by John Edwardson in Crain's.

House Republican Leader Jim Durkin today announced his appointments to the newly formed Illinois School Funding Reform Commission. The commission will be composed of five designees from the Governor’s administration and each of the four legislative leaders. Secretary of Education Beth Purvis will serve as chairperson.  

“The current school aid formula is archaic and needs to be reformed. I applaud Governor Rauner for forming this commission in an effort to bring all sides to the table to find a solution that is fair to both schools and taxpayers across Illinois,” said Durkin. “Each of my appointees to this bi-partisan, bi-cameral commission has taken a strong interest in reforming education funding, and each will bring a different regional perspective to the discussion.”  

House Republican appointees are:

• Avery Bourne, 95th District
• Sheri Jesiel, 61st District
• Dwight Kay, 112th District
• Bob Pritchard, 70th District
• Christine Winger, 45th District

The Commission is charged with coming up with a recommended comprehensive solution to reform Illinois’ school funding formula. A report is to be presented to the Governor and the Illinois General Assembly by February 1, 2017 with action to be taken in time for the 2017-2018 school year.

"No matter how this session unfolds, send that education bill to my desk -- CLEAN -- NO GAMES -- and I'll sign it immediately," -- Governor Bruce Rauner, February 17, 2016

"Before we appropriate money for education for next year, (which) starts July 1, we have to fix this formula," -- Senate President John Cullerton, January 25, 2016

Since taking office, I've made educating all children in Illinois my top priority. Since February, I've called on the General Assembly to pass a clean education funding bill to ensure our schools open on time this fall with full funding for the first time in seven years.

Read Governor Rauner's letter to the editor in the Daily Herald.

House Republican Leader Jim Durkin has filed two emergency spending bills that will allow all schools to open on time and also ensure that critical budget areas like universities and colleges, the correctional system and other vital service areas of government are funded through the end of the year.

These bills, HB 6583 and HB 6585, are balanced. Neither would add a cent of debt to the state of Illinois.

The stopgap, HB 6583, would allow every Illinois school district to be fully funded at 100 percent of the foundation level for the first time since 2012. Additionally, the bill holds harmless those school districts including Chicago Public Schools that would lose state funding in 2017 due to rising property values along with a decline in poverty. But most importantly, it removes K-12 schoolchildren from the crossfire of the larger budget impasse.

Read the rest of Represenative Ron Sandack's letter to the editor in the Daily Herald.

Acting to ensure that Illinois public schools open on-time this fall, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) has filed legislation to fully fund K-12 education in Illinois for FY2017. With the regular session of the Illinois General Assembly scheduled to adjourn May 31, Durkin filed House Bill 6583 as an alternative to keep schools open in the event a comprehensive budget is not approved by Tuesday’s midnight deadline.

“The Governor has made his commitment to strengthening our investment in K-12 education very clear, as well as the need to take students and teachers out of the political crossfire in Springfield by ensuring that public schools open on time this fall. House Republicans stand ready to help the Governor make that commitment a reality,” Leader Durkin said. “I call on House Democrats to join us in this commitment. We cannot play politics with our kids’ education.” Read more.

Last week, the Illinois State Board of Education heard presentations from two groups of committed community members wanting to make changes to the current K-12 funding formula. Both groups included educators, legislators and parents who have worked long and hard to address the inequity and inadequacy in the way that Illinois funds schools. As a religious leader, a former legislator and the current chair of the Illinois State Board of Education, I applaud their focus and hope that together we can find a resolution that will allow more children in Illinois to graduate from high school ready for a high paying job and a rigorous college program. Read the rest of the letter to the editor by James Meeks in the Chicago SunTimes.

With college and university budgets stressed beyond their breaking point, State Representative Dan Brady (R-Bloomington) is filing legislation to deliver emergency relief. Brady will be Chief House sponsor of the proposal which will fund higher education, albeit with modest cuts, for the remainder of this fiscal year and fully-fund MAP grants for students at the FY 2015 level utilizing existing revenues.

“Our universities and community colleges are facing unprecedented financial pressure due to the delay in state funding, and the willingness by many to front costs for students’ MAP grants. They’re not approaching crisis level, they’ve passed it,” Representative Brady said. “This week we are proposing a plan that would give the governor the tools and the funding to provide help.”  Read more.

Governor Bruce Rauner signed House Bill 3763 today making appropriations for General State Aid, Early Childhood Education, Bi-lingual Education and the Teachers’ Retirement System.

Governor Rauner has always made clear that improving education is his highest priority. While the legislature’s bill does not increase education spending by as much as the governor’s proposal, it does increase K-12 education spending by $244 million and early childhood education funding by $25 million.

“Education is the most important thing we do as a community. I would have done more for our schoolchildren, but I am taking action today to ensure our teachers are paid and our schools are open and funded,” Governor Rauner said. “I refuse to allow Speaker Madigan and the legislators he controls to hold our schools hostage as part of their plan to protect the political class and force a tax hike on the middle class without real reform.”

As part of his budget plan, the governor proposed increasing K-12 education by $312 million and early childhood by $32 million.

The bipartisan House Task Force on Education Funding will hold its first organizing meeting on Wednesday, March 11 at 3:00 PM in Room 118 in the Capitol. It is expected the Task Force will set objectives and future meetings. The Task Force will study equity and adequacy issues as it relates to funding schools in Illinois and from the information gathered, propose any necessary changes to the current school funding formula.

Rep. Robert Pritchard is the Republican Spokesperson for the 23-member Task Force and Republican lawmakers include Representatives Steven Andersson, Peter Breen, Mike Fortner, Jeanne Ives, Ron Sandack, Joe Sosnowski, Mike Tryon, Grant Wehrli and Barbara Wheeler. In January, Rep. Wheeler sponsored and filed HR9 calling for the creation of a committee to examine the existing school funding formula.

Representative Barbara Wheeler (R-Crystal Lake) has filed HR9 to create a committee to thoroughly examine the existing distribution of education funding in the state. HR9 will create the House Education Funding Advisory Committee to conduct a thorough review of the existing methods of education funding and distribution in Illinois. This proposal was originally made during November’s joint hearing of the House Elementary & Secondary Education Committee and House Appropriations – Elementary & Secondary Education Committee, but was postponed once SB16 was successful halted.  Read more.

Chicago – Schools

·         Chicago Public Schools receive $235 million in overpayments from Illinois taxpayers; Rep. Pihos files reform package to hold Chicago accountable.  In response to recent revelations that Illinois taxpayers overpaid Chicago Public Schools (CPS) by $235 million in block grant funds for the 2011-2012 school year, Representative Sandy Pihos has filed a package of bills that would repeal the preferential block grant funding for CPS and require CPS to submit claims for reimbursement of special education costs, just like the other 859 school districts throughout Illinois are required to do.

According to Pihos, the root of the problem can be traced to a lack of accountability with how grant money is sent to CPS and a failure within CPS to comply with reporting mandates required within the Illinois School Code.  Whereas every other public school district in the state gets reimbursed for services delivered, current law allows CPS to receive their block grant money up front.  For 2011-12, CPS received $483.7 million in block grants, but provided only $249 in student benefits.  Nearly 30 percent of special education funding was earmarked to CPS, which only had 16 percent of the special education student population in the state.