School Superintendents Ask Rauner To Back Change In Funding Formula
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Suburban and downstate school superintendents are among those urging the governor to support legislation that would change the way education funds are distributed in Illinois, and the Rauner Administration is responding.
More than a dozen superintendents from around the state, including Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool, have sent Gov. Bruce Rauner a letter urging him to support a change in the school aid formula.
Rauner has expressed some doubts about proposed legislation sponsored by state Sen. Andy Manar, which would gradually change districts' reliance on local property taxes and take local wealth into account when distributing funds. Over time, the state would shift more of its financial support toward needier districts.
The measure also would provide about $175 million more for CPS next year compared to last year.
West Aurora District 129 Supt. Dr. Jeff Craig said the legislation is not a bailout for Chicago's schools, as some Republican lawmakers have suggested.
"This is not a Chicago bailout, this is not a rural or an urban problem, this is a state of Illinois problem. This is a statewide funding issue that we need to resolve," he said.
Craig urged Rauner to support Manar's proposal, so less-affluent districts like his don't continue to suffer.
"I think we all agree we don't want people to have to lose money, but we certainly want an equitable dispersion of the funds throughout the state," he said.
The governor has said he supports changing the formula for divvying up school aid to various districts, but he has accused Democratic lawmakers of trying to hold up all school funding until school aid distribution is addressed.
State Education Secretary Beth Purvis said there's too much disagreement about how to distribute state funding, so lawmakers should approve the governor's plan first. Rauner's plan would add $55 million more in state funding to Illinois schools, but would not change the funding formula.
"There's no reason that we cannot simultaneously have conversations about a long-term solution that addresses both equity and adequacy," she said.
Purvis said there could be agreement on that by next year.