Results of new statewide poll show 66 percent of voters support increased funding for education.
Schoolchildren all over Illinois are struggling. Overcrowded classrooms,
outdated materials and crumbling facilities, teacher shortages — these are the
realities confronting schools in large urban cities like Rockford and Chicago,
small rural communities like Chester and Eureka, and suburban districts in Cook,
Will, Kane, and even McHenry and DuPage counties. Children are not doing as well
as they could because far too many of their schools are strapped financially,
and forced to make hard choices that negatively affect learning in the
classroom.
Today, a diverse new coalition of organizations from around the state
launched A+ Illinois to provide a quality education for every child, deliver
lasting property tax relief, and protect the services that are vital to
children, families, and communities.
A+ Illinois was launched with simultaneous events at the James R. Thompson
Center in Chicago, and the Capitol in Springfield, including a rally of more
than 500 parents and concerned neighbors in the Howlett Building’s Hall of
Flags. News of the A+ Illinois launch was also disseminated electronically to
more than 8,000 people.
“There is a public education crisis in Illinois that is much broader and much
deeper than many people comprehend,” said Jerome Stermer, president of Voices
for Illinois Children. “There’s also a much larger constituency for change than
many people realize.”
“Illinois’ achievement gap — the widest in the nation between students in
poor and wealthy areas — closely mirrors its funding gap,” said MarySue Barrett,
president of the Metropolitan Planning Council. “The funding disparity — which
results from an over-reliance on the property tax — is so wide that Illinois was
the only state to earn an "F" for equity last month from Education Week
.”
Other facts about public education in Illinois are equally alarming:
- More than 40 percent of Illinois’ 3,919 public schools failed to meet
federal achievement requirements last year.
- Illinois is 50th — dead last in the nation — in the equity of funding
between districts. There are school districts that spend less than $5,000 per
student per year, while others are able to invest $18,000 a year in each of
their students.
- About 80 percent of the state's 891 school districts have deficit budgets.
This includes fiscally responsible districts. Rapid population growth,
property tax caps, and property tax appeals can all have quick and devastating
affects on a school district.
- One in three children are not ready when they start kindergarten. Yet, 40
percent of at-risk preschoolers cannot enroll in early childhood programs
because there’s no state funding.
Voices for Illinois Children and the Metropolitan Planning Council are two of
eight organizations coordinating A+ Illinois. The others are: AFSCME Council 31,
the Center for Budget and Tax Accountability, Chicago Urban League, Illinois
Education Association, Illinois Farm Bureau, and Tax Policy Forum.
Joining Stermer and Barrett for the A+ Illinois announcement in Springfield
were Dennis Vercler, of the Illinois Farm Bureau, and Vickie Mahrt, a teacher
and board member of the Illinois Education Association.
Cook County Assessor James Houlihan, an A+ Illinois supporter, participated
in the Chicago announcement with Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center
for Tax and Budget Accountability; James Compton, president and CEO of the
Chicago Urban League; Paul Street, vice president of research and planning for
the Urban League; and Syvilla Rushdan, teacher-librarian at Kohn School on
Chicago’s Far South Side.
At both events, A+ Illinois released new data collected through statewide
focus groups and polling conducted by the Chicago Urban League and Voices for
Illinois Children. The poll, conducted in early January, asked 600 registered
voters about their attitudes on education issues in Illinois. It found that a
majority of voters, 66 percent, favor comprehensive school funding reform in
order to increase revenues for education and reduce the over-reliance on
property taxes to fund schools.
The research, done on behalf of A+ Illinois, bolsters the principles that guide the
campaign. Martire, in describing the campaign, explained that the A+ Illinois
principles encompass the critical components of truly comprehensive reform:
increased funding for schools, property tax relief, support for proven
strategies to improve education quality, and a restructured state fiscal system
that protects education and human services.
"A+ Illinois is committed to comprehensive change, because anything short of
that is just another Band-Aid. And, we know from our poll what voters are
willing to support," said Martire. "All the pieces won’t be in place tomorrow,
but we’re prepared to support and develop recommendations to accelerate change."
The poll found that a majority of voters would support a reform package that
included a combination of an income tax increase, property tax reduction, and
sales tax expansion.
Dozens of organizations have already endorsed the A+ Illinois principles,
summarized below, which are available in their entirety on the campaign’s Web site.
- Ensure that all children receive a quality education by establishing
adequate, reliable, sustainable funding for Illinois schools, which includes
increasing the state share of school funding (to at least 51 percent) and
raising the “foundation level” to $5,835 per pupil (with adjustments for
inflation, by 2006 or earlier), and guaranteeing additional funds to address
particular needs of low-income schoolchildren.
- Develop state-based tax revenues based on a fair, efficient, stable,
responsive, and transparent system that is not regressive; that encourages
responsible and accountable use of public funds; that helps create responsible
economic development, job creation and sound regional planning; and that helps
close the state’s structural deficit. This includes providing lasting property
tax relief, with additional targeted tax relief to distressed communities or
schools.
- Support proven strategies that build capacity to improve student learning
and close the student achievement gap.
- Put our state on more sound fiscal footing to protect education, human
services, and community programs that are vital to the well-being of children
and families, particularly those Illinoisans most in need.
- Break the strong correlation between individuals’ addresses and the
quality of their schools, availability of their housing options, and the
health of their local communities and economy.
Endorsers to date represent a wide variety of civic, education, children's
advocacy, business, labor, civil rights, faith-based, human services, and
community organizations.
“Education funding reform has been designated one of the Illinois Farm
Bureau's top-five priorities this year by the IFB board,” said Philip Nelson,
president of the Illinois Farm Bureau. “The need for adequate and equitable
education funding has been a key component of our policy for more than two
decades. We remain firmly committed to those goals.”
The Farm Bureau is among those active in A+ Illinois that have been involved
in past efforts to reform education funding in Illinois. Based on this past
experience, A+ Illinois organizers believe an agenda that marries education
funding, education quality, and tax reform is the best foundation for a
successful campaign for change.
“We will work to bring up the struggling schools, while preserving high
quality where it exists,” said Bindu Batchu, A+ Illinois campaign manager. “We
will stand behind local decision making and control, but will demand quality and
accountability in every way.”