State Sen. Dale Righter issued the following statement in reference to Senate Bill 231, an education funding reform proposal that passed the Illinois Senate May 10.
“We all agree Illinois’ education funding system should be the subject of study, debate, and perhaps reform. Senate Bill 231, however, makes the current education funding system worse. This isn’t a fix, it’s a bailout for Chicago Public Schools (CPS). CPS receives almost $400 million in additional money under SB 231, above and beyond the disproportionate share it already receives.
“This, when CPS is not only failing financially, but failing its students. CPS’ dropout rate is 150 percent higher than the state average. Twenty-seven percent of students at CPS are characterized as chronic truants, 200 percent higher than the state average. Reading levels, math levels, and science levels for students at CPS are all well below the state average. By every objective measure, CPS is failing, and the answer in this legislation is simply to send it more money.
“The problem with this debate right now is that it’s weighed too heavily on which specific schools districts are winners and losers. The quest for a better education funding system must start with this question – what do we wish to achieve through the funding formula? That answer should include providing all students, not select districts, the best learning environment our children deserve. That way, every student, not students in select schools or cities, are put on a better path for their future.”
