From the Chicago Sun Times and the Springfield State Journal Register

There's no debating it:
Illinois school funding unfair

February 12, 2005

BY RALPH MARTIRE

Reforming how Illinois funds public education has been debated for more than 60 years. Back in the 1940s, the Illinois Farm Bureau contended that the state's over-reliance on local property taxes to fund schools was unfair and unacceptable. Since then, every blue ribbon, nonpartisan commission that has studied Illinois school funding has sounded the same alarm. And there's never been a lack of data supporting the reformers' position.

Illinois has an unacceptably large and increasing funding disparity between affluent and all other school districts, a growing achievement gap and a teacher shortage. The majority of schools are deficit spending. Even the state's minimum per child foundation level of education spending is inadequate, providing more than $1,000 less than what it would cost a highly efficiently operated school district to have just two-thirds of its children pass the state's standardized tests.

Relying heavily on local property taxes to fund schools causes many of these problems. In effect, it ties the quality of the public education the state can afford to provide a child to the property wealth of the community in which that child lives. Kids in affluent communities get world-class public schools, children in other communities get something far less. The resulting inequities have been lambasted by educators, business leaders and prominent politicians from both political parties. Even national organizations, such as Education Week, continually assign Illinois the failing grade of "F" for school funding fairness. That is, until this year.

This year, when Education Week released its state grades for funding fairness, Illinois received a "C-," barely passing, but still an improvement from the failing grade. Suddenly, opponents of school funding reform thought they had something.

Well, as it turns out, the new grade Illinois received was not based on any improvement at all. It seems Education Week simply dropped one of the four factors it previously used to evaluate school funding fairness. Interestingly enough, the factor Education Week dropped measures two pretty important items. First, it evaluates how much total funding for schools comes from state-based resources rather than local property taxes. Second, it measures how well a state compensates for school funding discrepancies by targeting funding to property poor school districts.

Of the remaining three factors still used, only one actually considers discrepancy in school funding from district to district -- the "wealth-neutrality" index. It measures the degree to which school revenue is tied to the property wealth of districts. Illinois received the third worst grade on the wealth-neutrality index, scoring ahead of only Maryland and Alabama.

The other two factors really don't reveal anything about equity. One measures the difference between spending for the bottom 50 percent of school districts and spending at the median. The other factor compares the average range of spending per pupil for all kids, adjusting for at-risk children who have special needs or live in poverty.

It's not surprising that Illinois' grade improves when the factor it is worst at is eliminated. Changing the factors, however, doesn't change the facts. Illinois still has the worst spread in school funding between districts in the nation, and still ranks 49th in the portion of school funding provided from state rather than local resources. Using Education Week's methodology, my organization recomputed the Illinois data to include the dropped factor. Guess what? Illinois gets the same numeric score this year that it did last year. In other words, when you compare apples to apples, Illinois still has the wormy one, and keeps its failing grade of "F."

There really isn't anything left to debate. Illinois, one of the wealthiest states in the nation, ought to do a better job of funding schools fairly and adequately. No more political games, no more rhetoric and no more failing our children. Education Week can change their standards all they want. We shouldn't change ours.

Printed from the Illinois Times website: illinoistimes.com

POSTED ON AUGUST 12, 2004:

Schools need courageous politics

By Fletcher Farrar

Conventional wisdom in Illinois says that politicians who take politically difficult positions are doomed to defeat, but the late Paul Simon always challenged that. "It is not true," he boomed back to me not so long ago, after I had voiced the cynical view. He said if you're honest with voters and make a case for your position they will support you on your overall record, even while they may disagree on a particular issue. Simon supported abortion rights and gun control, opposed the death penalty and Chief Illiniwek, and remained one of the most popular politicians in Illinois.

But he did lose one election and that, unfortunately, has contributed to the myth that no politician can sponsor tax reform and survive. In February 1972 during the primary campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor, Simon said he would like to see more of the burden for school funding shifted from the property tax to the income tax. "Unfortunately I had no precise figures on how it would be carried out," Simon wrote in his autobiography. His opponent, the Chicago lawyer Dan Walker, pounced on the issue, trumpeting around the state that Simon was proposing to triple the state income tax. Walker's demagoguery and Simon's defeat set back education funding for decades.

Now a nonprofit research group is laying the groundwork for sweeping school tax reform, so that the next leader who takes on the issue won't be ill-prepared like Simon was. The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, headquartered in Chicago, has spent the past four years fine-tuning a proposal for a property tax/income tax swap that would not only provide increased resources for education, but would grow every year as incomes grow. The proposal has now been introduced as House Bill 750, which will be the subject of a series of hearings statewide. The first is scheduled for Bloomington Aug. 16. For details go to ctbaonline.org.

The mammoth budget battle that took place this year despite a reasonably strong economy signals something terribly wrong with the Illinois tax system. "The entire discussion wasn't about how do we invest the best way for our schoolchildren," says Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. "It was about which essential programs can we cut?" He says even though the General Assembly eventually approved a modest $154 per pupil increase this year, when that's combined with past cuts and increased needs, Illinois is falling further behind in school funding. "We cannot grow our way out of this problem."

That's because of the "structural deficit" in the tax system. Illinois relies too much on local property taxes, which not only fall disproportionately on low- and moderate-income taxpayers, but don't grow enough to keep up with growing needs. The reform proposal would increase the state personal income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent on individuals and from 4.8 to 8 percent on corporations. The tax would generate $5 billion in new revenue while still leaving Illinois in the bottom third of states in overall taxes. Then the state would send each school district at least 20 percent of the money it currently receives from property taxes to be rebated to property owners on their tax bills. A system of income tax credits to low- and middle-income families would ensure that those who can afford higher taxes pay most of the bill.

Results would be dramatic. This would bring $15 million a year in new money to Springfield District 186, according to CTBA's researchers. "That would be wonderful," says Diane Rutledge, District 186 superintendent. "We are living from grant to grant. That's no way to do business for the long term." The Springfield district has been hit with $13 million in cuts over the last four years, while student achievement expectations have increased. Rutledge said increased funding could bring back social workers and student assistant programs, beef up school security, enhance professional development opportunities for teachers, and decrease class sizes.

Where can we find the political courage to get this done? So far Gov. Rod Blagojevich has been seen as a major stumbling block, but that could change. His cut-and-borrow patchwork will get harder to pull off every year, and even he may tire of continual cutting. The governor he is most often compared with is Dan Walker, one of the worst in recent memory. If Blagojevich were to embrace this proposal, and get it passed, he would be in a league with Richard Ogilvie, one of the best. Not only would this governor's place in history be assured, he would leave a legacy of enhanced opportunity for generations of schoolchildren in Illinois.

URL for this story: http://illinoistimes.com/gbase/Gyrosite/Content?oid=3438

[Home] [Mission Statement] [DAY FOR CHILDREN] [Members] [One  Proposal] [Fund Erosion Causes] [Compare Plans] [Doomsday] [Fiscal Reform] [Links] [ISNS CA Options] [In the News] [Student Rally] [HB750 Support Form]

Copyright © 2003 by Better Funding for Better Schools Coalition
Contact Us

Website Design by Jeff Gargas