“Illinois House can give 831 school districts more money, or just Chicago”

Editorial Boards across the state are calling on Illinois Democrats to vote their districts and compromise to ensure that we fix the broken school funding formula.

For weeks, Democrats have attacked Governor Rauner, claiming that his amendatory veto would harm schools.

But this week they were proven wrong – by the numbers.

As the Belleville News-Democrat Editorial Board notes, “Math matters…Of 923 school districts in Illinois, Rauner’s changes will give more money to 831 of them and make no difference to another 71 that are mainly alternative schools.”

“If the Illinois House votes Wednesday to override the Rauner amendatory veto, then Chicago’s $463 million will come out of the pockets of 831 other school districts.”

The Chicago Tribune Editorial board this weekend likewise called out Democrats, asking them to come to the table and compromise.

“Republicans are in a position to seek the sort of compromise-maker we advocated over the weekend: creating scholarships for low- and middle-income kids to attend public schools outside their district boundaries, or to attend private schools. Republicans also have spoken (including on Sunday) about reducing unfunded state mandates for schools, and about allowing districts to limit collective bargaining.

Democrats might not like those paths to compromise; teachers unions hate school choice almost as much as they’d hate any limit to collective bargaining. But Democrats also own a huge mess that many of them are frantic to address: the devastated finances of a CPS long mismanaged by, um, their fellow Democrats in Chicago’s City Hall.

If Democrats refuse to compromise and let Senate Bill 1 die, they can wear that jacket.”

###