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News :: Miscellaneous |
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State of Illinois Proposes Pocket Change for Education |
Current rating: 0 |
by Mike Lehman
(No verified email address) |
13 Dec 2000
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The State of Illinois proposes a measly $135 per student increase in education funding for next year.
Rolling in tobacco settlement cash and with the statehouse full of politicians who ran campaigns that said they put a priority on education, this slim increase falls $386 short of even the minimum that the state itself calls for as the guaranteed bottom line, per-student funding for education. |
The State of Illinois proposes a measly $135 per student increase in minimum-level per-student education funding for next year. Rolling in tobacco settlement cash and with the statehouse full of politicians who ran campaigns that said they put a priority on education, this slim increase falls $386 short of even the minimum that the state itself calls for as the guaranteed bottom line, per-student funding for education. It is also $20 short of even keeping up with the rate of inflation, meaning student funding is falling even further behind its already low level in many poorer districts.
Illinois has one of the most unequal spreads in education funding per-pupil in the US. Some rich school districts in Illinois spend $15,000 per pupil, while many poorer districts get by on the minimum. School funding is dependent on the property tax in Illinois, but wealthy interests have opposed a switch to more equitable income taxes as a means to more fairly fund education. Many farmers are particularly impacted by the current formula, but most have chosen to throw in their lot with the wealthy in a short-sighted bid to keep their taxes low at the expense of this vital public service.
The Dec. 13 News-Gazette carried the news of this miserable increase, which reflects the current penchant of state politicians in looking for tax breaks for business and tax rebates for wealthier taxpayers and money to build more prisons, while ignoring funding for basic government services such as education. |
