Education

After seven years of implementation, including six that included New Tier Funding, or new year-over-year funding, Illinois' funding formula for K-12 Education—the Evidence Based Funding for Student Success Act, or EBF—has worked towards its promise of closing the drastic funding gaps between school in property-rich and property-poor districts,  as well as between schools in predominantly white communities and schools that serve predominantly Black and Latinx students, putting the funding responsibility on the state to ensure equity for districts with less local resources. The EBF accomplishes this by distributing new K-12 funding to those districts that are furthest away from having adequate resources, and furthest away from hitting their respective "Adequacy Targets" --which is the amount the research indicates is required to provide the level of education the students they serve need to succeed academically.

The EBF replaced a formula that was based on a one-size fits all "Foundation Level" of per-pupil funding that was both inadequate in amount and inequitable in distribution. In fact, Illinois' disinvestment had been so inadequate that local property tax revenue became the primary method from which education was funded. Now, seven years later, the EBF has drastically changed public education funding allocation and has worked to close Adequacy Funding Gaps for students across all regions of the state and from all demographics by continuing to increase the state level investment each year.

After six years of implementation, five of which included new year-over-year funding, Illinois’ school funding formula – the Evidence Based Funding for Student Success Act, or EBF – has worked towards its promise of closing Illinois’ drastic funding and achievement gaps between schools in property-rich and property-poor districts, as well as between schools in predominantly white communities and schools that serve predominantly students of color. The EBF accomplishes this by distributing new K-12 funding to those districts that are furthest away from having the resources to fund their respective “Adequacy Targets” – which is the amount the research indicates is required to provide the level of education the students they serve need to succeed academically.

The EBF replaced an old formula that was based on a one-size-fits-all “Foundation Level” of per-pupil funding that was both inadequate in amount and inequitable in distribution. Indeed, the state’s historic investment in K-12 has been so inadequate that local property tax revenue became the primary method of funding education. But after six years of the EBF, the formula has proven that it is working as intended to counter historic inequities by investing more at the state level each year, closing Adequacy Funding Gaps for students in every region of the state and of every race and ethnicity.

Beginning in 2017, Illinois decision makers replaced one of the least-equitable K-12 public education funding formulas in the country with the Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act, or EBF. The EBF commits to implementing best practice in school funding by investing a year-to-year increased Minimum Target Level of $300 million each fiscal year.  Illinois met the Minimum Target Level for increased year-to-year state funding of K-12 education in each of the first three fiscal years—FY 2018, 2019, and 2020—during which the EBF was implemented. That streak now stands to be broken, however, as the FY 2021 General Fund Budget, which recently passed, does not increase K-12 funding under the EBF, but rather holds it level with FY 2020.

The Impact of Underfunding the Evidence-Based Funding Formula report analyzes the steps the EBF takes when the Minimum Target Level is not satisfied and how limited or no new Tier funding would impact districts by Tier, income level, race, and geography. The report also analyzes how state funding would be allocated if the state is unable to hold funding level with the prior fiscal year, resulting in a reduction in funding for the EBF.

On Thursday, August 31, 2017, the people of Illinois woke up in the state that had the worst—as in least equitable—K-12 public education funding formula in the country. That night they went to bed in the state that had the best. This historic transformation happened because that afternoon, Governor Bruce Rauner signed Senate Bill (SB) 1947—which became Public Act (P.A.) 100-0465—into law. This breakthrough legislation incorporates the full “evidence-based model” (EBM) of school funding previously contained in SB 1. And while SB 1 passed the General Assembly in May of 2017, it was vetoed by the Governor. To gain the Governor’s support, a few, non-school funding related provisions were tacked onto SB 1 in what became the final version of that bill—SB 1947—which the Governor signed.

The Evidence-Based Model incorporated in P.A. 100-0465 represents the best practice in school funding for one simple reason: it ties the dollar amount taxpayers invest in schools to those educational practices which the research shows actually enhance student achievement over time. Hence, after the model becomes fully funded, stakeholders can expect to see: growth in student test scores; improved school climates with reduced disciplinary problems; reduced drop-out rates with corresponding increases in high school graduation and college enrollment rates; and a K-12 system that appropriately serves the social/emotional needs of students from diverse backgrounds. Ultimately, the EBM—again, when fully funded—will create a K-12 system with the capacity to provide an education of sufficient quality for all students to graduate high school college and career ready, irrespective of income, race, geography, or ethnicity.