The Value Propositions Associated with Funding Research-Based K-12 Education Practices
Release: September 20, 2016
Given what the evidence says about the role education plays in building both an individual’s and a state’s economic competitiveness, the questions for policymakers become: Can the value of adequately investing in K-12 education be quantified? Is it possible to identify how making appropriate investments in specific, evidenced based educational practices today, can generate quantifiable economic and other benefits to society tomorrow? The answers, as it turns out, are yes and yes.
Why Illinois Should Adopt an Evidence-Based Education Funding Model
Release: July 13, 2016
To address both its inadequate and inequitable approach to school funding, Illinois should move to a funding system based on the Evidenced Based Model. Designed to identify the level of funding needed to deliver an adequate education to every student in a state and sensitive to each child’s needs, the Evidenced Based Model ensures that the distribution of education funding is equitable, and accounts for the cost of overcoming “at risk” factors.
The Evidenced Based Model determines per-pupil expenditures by identifying how much research-based “best practices” cost, given a state’s overall and regional labor market and other cost factors. Finally, the Evidenced Based Model identifies and costs-out those educational practices which the research shows to boost student achievement.
Fact Sheet: SB16—School Funding Reform Act of 2014
Release: November 11, 2014
To address concerns about inequity in the Illinois' K-12 education funding formula, the Illinois Senate unanimously established the Education Funding Advisory Committee or “EFAC” in July of 2013. One specific goal supported by EFAC was making said distribution more equitable from a needs-based standpoint. In April of 2014, Senator Andy Manar (D-48) introduced SB16 in part to implement some of EFAC’s recommendations. CTBA's Fact Sheet outlines the primary goals, basic mechanics, and equity concerns of SB16.