Lawmakers considering changing how the state funds public schools heard testimony yesterday from districts that would lose money under a plan currently on the table.
Officials from four districts testified before an Education Funding Task Force about how their schools would suffer if the legislature enacts a law shifting state aid away from districts with high property values to districts with many low-income students.
Bill Shields, school superintendent of a district northwest of Chicago, said families move into his district, attracted by the arts, athletics and technology programs, such as the program that provides an ipad to each preschooler.
"And to say, “Guess what, we may have to cut back on something because we're going be a loser, and your tax dollars are now going to support somebody downstate’ -- that's something that we've got to work on collectively as a whole as a state. We've got to put our heads together and make this thing work,” Shields said.
Older students in his district receive Apple AirMac laptops, just like the one Representative Grant Wehrli was using during the meeting. "When we are doing things like 1-t0-1, what a tremendous thing. The device you have? That's the device my 4th and 5th graders have,” he said, “and it's a wonderful thing."
Shields said instead of taking state aid away from his school, all other schools should get the same amenities. He prefers a different plan, due to be filed within a few weeks, that will hold all districts harmless.
