Fully Funding the Evidence-Based Formula: Four Scenarios
Release: March 27, 2019
On August 31, 2017, Illinois decision makers finally jettisoned one of the least-equitable K-12 public education funding formulas in the country and replaced it with the Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act, or EBF. The EBF represents the best practice in school funding because it ties the dollar amount taxpayers invest in schools to those educational practices which research shows actually enhance student achievement over time. David G. Sciarra, Education Law Center, Is School Funding Fair?
Moving Forward: Illinois' Evidence Based School Funding Formula Can Reverse Decades of Inequity Created by the Foundation Formula It Replaced
Release: October 10, 2018
After just one year of implementation, Illinois’ new school funding formula – the Evidence Based Funding for Student Success Act, or EBF – holds out the promise of closing Illinois’ drastic funding and achievement gaps both between schools in property-rich and property-poor districts, as well as between schools in predominantly white communities and schools that serve predominantly students of color.
Governor Rauner's FY2019 General Fund Budget Proposal Is a Major Setback For Public Education
Release: February 15, 2018
Governor Bruce Rauner introduced his proposed fiscal year 2019 budget on February 14. But despite promising to help close the shortfall from adequate resources identified by the new Evidence-Based Model for school funding, the governor's budget actually cuts available resources for K-12 classrooms by an inflation-adjusted $547 million. This cut frustrates the core purpose of the Evidence-Based Model, which he signed into law just last year: To increase the resources available to Illinois public schools to the levels that evidence shows they need in order to succeed.
ANALYSIS OF SB 1947 (Public Act 100-0465): The Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act
Release: October 10, 2017
On Thursday, August 31, 2017, the people of Illinois woke up in the state that had the worst—as in least equitable—K-12 public education funding formula in the country. That night they went to bed in the state that had the best. This historic transformation happened because that afternoon, Governor Bruce Rauner signed Senate Bill (SB) 1947—which became Public Act (P.A.) 100-0465—into law. This breakthrough legislation incorporates the full “evidence-based model” (EBM) of school funding previously contained in SB 1.
Governor Rauner’s Amendatory Veto of SB1 Has a Number of Negative Consequences for Schools Across Illinois
Release: August 14, 2017
While the Illinois Senate voted on Sunday to override the Governor's amendatory veto (AV) of SB1, the Evidence-Based Model for education funding reform, a new CTBA analysis has identified at least six aspects of the AV that would each threaten the ability of Illinois school districts to reach adequate funding to serve their students.
These deficiencies underscore the importance of passing SB1.
CTBA finds that Governor Rauner's AV would frustrate SB1's core purpose of creating an adequate and equitable education funding formula in a number of ways, including by weakening: