SPRINGFIELD – Bunker Hill public schools will receive nearly $195,000 in new money under Illinois’ education funding formula overhaul, an initiative driven largely by Senator Andy Manar of Bunker Hill.
The Illinois State Board of Education on Thursday issued vouchers to the state comptroller that clear the way for local school districts to begin receiving money under Illinois’ new evidence-based model of funding public schools.
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The distribution – which is based on detailed enrollment figures, district-specific student learning needs, available local resources and other data – is the first step toward right-sizing state support for every school district. No schools will ever receive less state funding than they do today under the new plan.
“The data we have now reinforces what we already knew: that there is astonishing unfairness in how school districts around Illinois are funded,” Manar said.
“There are school districts in this state with more than double the amount of resources it should take to educate their particular students, while other school districts have barely half of what they need. It’s been this way of years, and it’s going to come to an end.”
Macoupin County school districts will receive more than $2.5 million in new money under the formula change. Of the eight public school districts in Macoupin County, ISBE categorized all of them as “Tier 1,” meaning they are among the most underfunded districts in the state.
The amounts of new money under the evidence-based model range from more than $679,000 for Gillespie CUSD 7 to nearly $51,000 for Northwestern CUSD 2.
Manar credited the staff at the state board of education for their efforts working with school districts and lawmakers to pull together the necessary data and calculate the distribution amounts in April as promised. He called it a historic turning point for school districts, especially those in rural and downstate Illinois.
The distributions for Macoupin County schools are as follows:
*Base Funding Model and total state contribution amounts are rounded.
See isbe.net/ebf2018 for exact figures and more details.
