Illinois state board recommends schools get the minimum funding increase

The Illinois State Board of Education voted Wednesday to recommend the state increase education funding at about the same amount as previous years, but far less than what would be needed to fully fund education across the state.

The board is recommending that the state send $350 million more to school district’s general operating budgets and $151 million more to help them pay for free and reduced lunches, transportation and specialty schools for disabled students.

The recommendation will go to Gov. JB Pritzker, who will lay out his budget proposal in February. The general assembly will approve a budget in late May. The fiscal year starts on July 1.

Superintendent Tony Sanders told the board that the recommendation takes into account the state’s poor financial situation. The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget is projecting that the state will have a budget deficit of $2.2 billion in fiscal year 2027.

But the recommendation comes at a time when there’s growing calls for the state to step up its funding of education.

Stacy Davis Gates, the president of the Chicago Teachers Union and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, immediately released a statement, decrying the recommendation as “not what we need to meet this moment.”

“Students in various parts of the state are going without meals, without their special education needs being met, without counselors, extra-curriculars, sports, and even without heat and hazard-free facilities,” she said in a statement. “Educators in some districts are working second jobs just to make ends meet. All of that is apart from and before the impact of Trump’s cuts.”

Davis Gates said she is “certain” state lawmakers will provide more for education as they finalize the 2027 budget. Davis Gates plans to stand with other progressive leaders on Thursday to call for the state to tax the “ultra wealthy” to pump more money into critical services like education and offset federal funding cuts.

School districts across the state are reeling from the loss of billions of dollars of federal COVID-19 relief funds, which allowed schools to hire more staff and provide more support services for students.

At the same time, federal funding is on shaky footing as President Donald Trump’s administration threatens to pull back grants and make it harder for school districts to access other funding streams.

Also, school districts are grappling with increases in inflation.

Advance Illinois, a state education advocacy organization, put out a statement applauding the state board for continuing to pump money into education funding. But it also urged lawmakers to recognize that the recommended increase in funding is not enough.

Advance Illinois helped the state craft a new education funding formula in 2018 that defined what school districts need to provide an adequate education by looking at things like recommended class size and student-to-teacher ratio.

The law then called on the state to commit a minimum of $350 million in new education funding each year with a goal of fully funding all schools by fiscal year 2027. Most years, the state has done the minimum, though last year it was a little less at $307 million.

At the rate the state is going, all school districts won’t reach adequacy for another 15 years, according to the statement from Advance Illinois.

“That means an entire generation of students will continue to learn in underfunded schools,” Advance Illinois said in the statement.” The state’s commitment to schoolchildren needs to be more than what is legislatively mandated. Instead, we must focus on what is required to close the gap for underfunded schools and the students they serve.”

Advance Illinois officials said the current funding for free and reduced school lunches, transportation and specialty schools for disabled students is at an “unacceptable level” and the recommended increase is needed to “simply maintain” the current funding. It warns that without more money school districts will have trouble providing these essential services without “cannibalizing” other funding sources.

While the state acknowledges that schools are still underfunded, officials note that progress has been made since the new funding formula was approved. In 2018, 168 school districts were determined to have 60% what they needed to be adequately funded. Since then, the state has put $2.8 billion more into education funding and currently no school districts are 60% below adequacy.

However, there are still 384 school districts that have 80% or less than what they need to be adequately funded.