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State Board Reveals Potential School Funding Using New Formula

Illinois already ranked last in the nation in state support for public schools. Cuts announced this week will just make a bad situation worse. But some pending legislation could bring more money to Springfield public schools.

State education officials this week revealed how much each school district will gain or lose if a new funding formula becomes law. Springfield and Decatur would be winners, with Springfield getting an extra $360 per student and Decatur getting an extra $675. Chatham and Rochester, on the other hand, would lose some state funding. Why? Because this new formula proposed by Democratic Senator Andy Manar is designed to help schools with more low-income students.

But Springfield superintendent Jennifer Gill knows better than to count on these funds before the bill has passed.

“So when I talk about this funding from Sen. Manar’s bill, it’s sort of play money at this point. It’s not something that’s guaranteed," Gill said. "“The way that we’re getting more money is that they’re weighing for students with poverty, so we’re 68 percent low-income, and then they’re also giving more money for students with disabilities, and we have 19.7 percent in our district. That just kind of goes along with being a large urban district with 15,000 students.”

Getting the change through the legislature is considered a long shot this year. 

HERE'S A LINK to the state board's extrapolation of Manar's formula.

After a long career in newspapers (Dallas Observer, The Dallas Morning News, Anchorage Daily News, Illinois Times), Dusty returned to school to get a master's degree in multimedia journalism. She began work as Education Desk reporter at NPR Illinois in September 2014.
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