State Fails to Provide Adequate Funding, Voters Must Make Tough Choices April 5

A+ Illinois analysis finds high failure rate of school referenda, yet more districts putting them on the ballot than in recent years

March 31, 2005

(CHICAGO) – With some 70 school-related tax referenda up for vote April 5 in primary elections across Illinois , it’s evident that the state’s failure to adequately fund schools is hurting Illinois schoolchildren and straining property taxpayers, according to members of the A+ Illinois statewide campaign for education funding and tax reform.

A+ Illinois is calling on state leaders to find real solutions to the school-funding crisis, particularly in light of the campaign’s analysis of recent referenda results, which shows that the crisis has reached new heights. The analysis found that the number of tax referenda has more than doubled since the 2001-02 school year, while the number of passed referenda continues to fall.

“Property taxpayers are sending a clear message: they can no longer afford to bear the brunt of funding Illinois’ schools,” said Bindu Batchu, A+ Illinois campaign manager, citing an 84 percent failure rate among tax referenda held so far for the 2004 school year, and a 62 percent failure rate for the 2003 school year. “Indeed, it is not already overburdened property taxpayers who should be primarily responsible for footing the bill for public education. The state owes it to Illinois ’ hard-working families to identify a stable and adequate system of funding for our public schools.”

The A+ Illinois analysis found that, despite the growing failure rate of tax and bond referenda, funding problems – including a lack of adequate state funding for schools – force more and more school districts to place referenda on the ballot.

The number of tax referenda have spiked by over 145 percent from the 2001-02 school year to the 2003-04 school year. During the 2001-02 school year, there were 56 tax referenda. In the 2002-03 school year, there were 136 tax referenda. And in 2003-2004, 138 tax referenda.
The current 2004-05 school year already has seen 49 tax referenda on the ballot, with another 70 scheduled for next week. Of the initial 49, 84 percent failed.
The failure rate of bond referenda also has increased. During the 2001-02 school year, bond referenda were passed overwhelmingly, with a 71 percent success rate. The success rate fell to 54 percent in 2003-04.

“These grim statistics support what we already know: that a growing number of Illinois schools are in fiscal crisis and are desperate for the state to provide increased funding for schools and relieve the burden placed on local property taxpayers,” said Batchu.

Batchu also noted that there was a nearly 79 percent increase in the number of school districts on the state’s financial watch list, according to the Illinois State Board of Education’s (ISBE) 2004 School District Financial Profiles. Of the state’s 893 school districts, nearly one-third are included either on the financial watch or financial early warning list.

Meanwhile, school districts are working hard to balance their budgets by making difficult decisions, such as cutting core classes and teaching positions. In many cases, even drastic measures have failed to provide school districts with the funding they need to ensure an adequate education for every child.

“A+ Illinois supports a school-funding reform approach that, in part, would shift more funding responsibility to a higher state income tax and away from local property taxes,” said Batchu. “This would produce more adequate funding for schools and fix the unfairness of widely varying, school-to-school funding differences that result from our over-reliance on property taxes. And property taxpayers likely would face many fewer requests for local tax hikes.”

The campaign also urges the governor’s administration to live up to his campaign pledge to raise the state’s minimum school-funding amount, also known as the foundation level, by $1,000 over the course of his first term. The foundation level is determined by the state’s Education Funding Advisory Board, which uses sound methodology to identify the amount of per-pupil funding needed to ensure that every child receives a quality education.

This year, the governor’s school funding proposal is to create an “education endowment fund,” which would generate just $140 million for education annually over the next three years. That amount is nowhere near what is needed to meet his pledge, nor is it enough to meet the recommended foundation level as determined by the state’s Education Funding Advisory Board.

“No one disputes that Illinois schools are in need of funds, and that schoolchildren should not be made to suffer for the shortfalls,” said Batchu. “But the clock is ticking for Illinois schools, and instead of responding to the alarm, the governor and the General Assembly keep hitting the snooze bar.”