 Education Funding The public education system in Illinois is under-funded and over-reliant on property taxes. Localized funding exacerbates a stratification of educational opportunities, further depriving children who live in lower-income areas—the child who lives in Wilmette attends a very different school than the child who lives in Humboldt Park. The single most progressive thing we can do to improve public education in Illinois and mediate this disparity is to make children the primary stakeholders. Focus an increase of the state’s share of funding on those children most in need. Narrow the spending gap by increasing per-pupil spending in the poorest districts and thereby build support for reform in communities where public support for education is already strong. Targeting resources means more than just dumping funds into poor-performing districts or pushing teachers to teach to the test. Schools can’t go it alone; strong partnerships between schools, families and the communities are needed. That’s why we should recruit, relocate and pay premiums for proven administrators who have a record of leadership and success turning around troubled schools. We also need to develop an appreciation for the value of long-term educational investments. Methods and programs that save costs over time, such as early childhood education, must be supported even if they do not produce immediate improvements in test scores. To solve funding shortages, I favor changing the state’s income tax rate from the current flat rate to a graduated rate, broadening the state’s tax base and re-evaluating the use of TIF districts and the revenue diverted from schools. |
