Progress Illinois

Most state public education dollars should be distributed under a single funding formula based on the needs of school districts, a state Senate advisory committee argued in a report recently submitted to the governor and the Illinois General Assembly.

Created last July, the Senate Education Funding Advisory Committee was tasked with recommending ways to improve the current public education funding system in Illinois, which has remained unchanged since 1997.  

Following months of discussion on the issue, the bipartisan committee, chaired by State Sens. Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) and Dave Luechtefeld (R-Okawville), recommended in the report that 96 percent of state education dollars should be combined under one school funding formula, with the exception of funds for early childhood education, capital projects and high-cost special education.