Public hearings scheduled on school-funding reforms

from Cheryl Chapman

The Illinois House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee has scheduled five hearings for late September and early October to consider ideas on school-funding reforms..  All are welcome to attend, and Voices strongly encourages Illinoisans to use these opportunities to demand changes that can improve learning for all children—particularly those whose opportunities are lagging the most.  The hearings are scheduled for:

Oak Park:  Sept. 18, 1 p.m., Oak Park Village Hall, 123 Madison St.
South Holland:  Sept. 30, 6 p.m., Thornwood High School, 17101 S. Park Ave.
Chicago:  Oct. 2, 6 p.m., Loyola University, 6525 N. Sheridan Road
Lincolnwood:  Oct. 6, 7 p.m., Lincolnwood City Hall, 6900 N. Lincoln Ave.
Springfield:  Oct. 9, 1 p.m., State Capitol, 2nd and Monroe Streets

Committee Chairman and state Rep. Mike Smith of Canton called for the hearings last month, prompted by the efforts of Chicago Sen. James Meeks and other African-American legislators to highlight gross funding inequities among Illinois schools.  To try to reduce such unfairness, Meeks and some fellow lawmakers called, in part, for the elimination of property taxes as a source of school revenues. “Fairness is a fundamental concept we teach our children.  We should apply that lesson in every aspect of public policy—particularly our aim to offer every child a high-quality education, a goal we clearly are not fulfilling today,” said Jerry Stermer, president of Voices for Illinois Children.

However, elimination of property taxes from the school formula could remove some important stability from Illinois’ education funding base, Voices believes.  Stermer said a key to improving funding fairness is to focus on greatly increasing the state’s investments, in order to lift-up poorly supported schools and to bolster research-proven strategies to raise the quality of children’s education.  This approach would allow Illinois to maintain the stability of property taxes as a revenue source while appropriately shifting more responsibility to state funding sources.

“The improvement of children’s learning hinges upon caring adults coming together with more ideas, more creativity and more commitment,” Stermer added, applauding the work of Meeks, Smith and other education leaders to focus more attention on this issue of critical importance to Illinois’ future.

Stermer plans to address the South Holland hearing, and other members of the A+ Illinois campaign—seeking reform of schools’ funding and quality and the state’s revenue system—will speak at several of the forums.

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