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Chapter 2: State funding.

Article Excerpt
Byline: Emily Krone

ekrone@@dailyherald.com

The Illinois Constitution assigns the state the primary responsibility for financing public schools.

The state doesn't live up to that responsibility.

Not by a long shot.

In the 10 school years from 1996-97 through 2005-06, the state supplied just 29 percent of the money collected by all Illinois public schools.

With only three sources of funding - state, federal and local government - 29 percent can hardly meet anyone's definition of "primary."

In the property-rich suburbs, the state contribution is particularly paltry.

Over the past decade, the state contributed 16 percent of all the revenue collected by the 94 districts in the Daily Herald coverage area. And that doesn't count the bond debt local school districts took on.

Critics of the state's funding system key in on the discrepancy between the demands of the state Constitution and what the state actually delivers.

They say the system creates inequalities among poor and wealthy districts.

Some areas generate enough property tax revenue to render the state contribution inconsequential. Other areas operate with very little revenue beyond the state contribution. Then there are the middle-class districts, which often fare worse than either.

"The way Illinois funds education is both unfair and inadequate," says a position paper by the bipartisan Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. "The end result; the state fails to give every school enough money to provide...

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