SJ0044 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SJ0044 LRB098 14516 MST 49339 r

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has put forth a comprehensive plan to strengthen the State's public education system and improve student performance; and

WHEREAS, The State's education leaders raised standards for students, strengthened teacher and principal evaluation to provide feedback and improve instruction, redesigned school report cards, and intensified efforts to improve struggling schools - all of which pave the way for better outcomes and opportunities for students; and

WHEREAS, Four years of cuts to public education in Illinois threaten to derail much-needed improvements and strip away support for student performance; and

WHEREAS, When adjusted for inflation, the State of Illinois cut $1.4 billion from the total K-12 budget from Fiscal Year 2009 through Fiscal Year 2013; and

WHEREAS, The funding gap continues to widen between what the Education Funding Advisory Board deems necessary and what the General Assembly determines the State will provide; and

WHEREAS, In 2012 and 2013, the General Assembly did not appropriate sufficient money to fully fund the statutorily set foundation level of $6,119, therefore triggering the proration of General State Aid dollars; and

WHEREAS, In Fiscal Year 2012, the State's school districts only received 95% of the foundation level and, in Fiscal Year 2013, they received just 89%; and

WHEREAS, When the State prorates General State Aid dollars, it disproportionately hurts school districts most dependent on State dollars and causes the highest-poverty districts to lose more than $500 per student in Fiscal Year 2013, totaling roughly $160 million; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING HEREIN, that we state our disapproval of the prorating of payments to school districts, a budgetary tactic that has a decidedly regressive effect; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we further state our disapproval of the cutting of education funding and recommend the abolishment of the proration of General State Aid dollars, given the undue harm to the neediest school districts; and be it further

RESOLVED, That, in the event that the State of Illinois does not fund the State Board of Education's budget request, we urge the members of the General Assembly to pass legislation that equitably spreads reductions among school districts by evenly cutting dollars on a per-pupil basis or using another non-regressive approach.