A new report from an independent policy and advocacy organization is calling for increased state investment in public education in Illinois, particularly in early childhood and higher education.
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SPRINGFIELD – A new report from an independent policy and advocacy organization is calling for increased state investment in public education in Illinois, particularly in early childhood and higher education.
“Overall, our outcomes are improving despite insufficient state investment in programs and schools. We must build on the progress of K–12 funding reform and ensure our early childhood and postsecondary programs are fully and equitably funded so students and families have access to the resources they need to thrive,” Advance Illinois said in its 2019 “The State We’re In” report.
Advance Illinois was founded in 2008 by leaders from several civic, philanthropic, business and education organizations across the state. The group’s stated purpose is to work “toward a healthy public education system that prepares students to achieve success in college, career and civic life.”
Their annual report tracks roughly 80 metrics pertaining to student performance in three categories: early education, K–12 and postsecondary.
The report found that evidence-based funding formula, which was passed in 2017, has helped increase per-pupil state spending at the K-12 level. Illinois spent, on average, $7,503 per pupil in 2017, ranking it 29th in the nation. That’s up from $4,557 in 2007, when the state ranked 45th.
The evidence-based funding formula calls for an added $350 million in K-12 education spending annually and directs that money to the schools furthest from adequate funding. This helped decrease the number of school districts funded at less than 60 percent of their adequacy targets from 168 in 2017 to roughly 34 in 2019, according to the report.
Still, nearly half of Illinois’ 852 school districts are working with “less than 70 percent of the funds they need to adequately meet their students’ needs,” the report said.
While K-12 education spending increased from 2007 to 2017, over that same span, per-pupil state spending at four-year higher education institutions was decimated. In 2007, Illinois spent $7,276 per student at public four-year institutions, but that number fell to $3,636 in 2017. That was a steep enough fall to move the state from the 19th to 45th highest in the nation.