Fully Funding the Evidence-Based Formula: Four Scenarios

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? A National Report Card, Seventh Edition, (Newark, NJ: January 2018).

However, the current maximum investment requirement under the EBF isn’t even enough to meet the statute’s stated goal of full funding within 10 years. This in turn means that if K-12 funding only grows by the $350 million annual maximum under the statute, generations of K-12 students would continue to attend schools that lack the capacity to provide them with an adequate education.

The following issue brief identifies four different scenarios – by the number of years and amount of additional yearly investment which would be necessary – to fund the EBF on a fully inflation-adjusted basis.