A+ campaign demands fairness in school-funding system
In Illinois more than almost anywhere else in the
nation, the quality of children's education continues to depend upon where they
live, according to a report released this week by the Education Trust. The study
shows students in Illinois' highest-poverty districts receive an average of
$2,026 less in education funding than students in wealthier districts – a
funding gap second only to New York's.
A+ Illinois, a campaign for education quality and funding reform,
cited this report and two additional studies as evidence of crisis-caliber
inequity in the treatment of poor and minority Illinois children. Earlier this
year, Education Week issued a study giving Illinois the only "F" in the nation
when it comes to school-funding fairness. And the "nation's report card" –
issued by the National Assessment of Education Progress – deemed Illinois as
having the widest average achievement gap between students from property-rich
and property-poor districts.
"You need not only look at this string of national studies to see
the abject unfairness of our school-funding system," said Sean Noble of Voices
for Illinois Children, one of the A+ campaign's 85 endorsing organizations. "We
see it at schools across the state – schools that have cut teachers, raised
class sizes and put off purchasing up-to-date textbooks and supplies. Such
schools are scattered everywhere, statewide, but especially in areas serving the
lowest-income students."
In addition to schools getting fewer dollars per student
in Illinois ' highest-poverty districts, the report also demonstrates a large
funding gap between schools with the most minority students and those with the
fewest. For example, the average per-student funding amount in districts with
the fewest minority students is $7,398, compared with $5,536 in districts with
the most minority students. The Education Trust study ("Funding Gap 2004") is
available online
.
A+ Illinois campaign members and supporters want to improve the quality and
funding at the lowest-performing schools while maintaining performance and
resources in more successful districts. This can only be done if the state
reforms the structure of school funding — and the state increases its commitment
to fund public schools instead of continuing to rely too heavily upon
overburdened property-taxpayers.
"As long as we rely on property taxes to fund about 53 percent of
education, the system will remain unfair to students," said Noble. "They suffer
for it, and Illinois ' future suffers for it."