When the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula passed in 2017, it promised to direct more state resources to the school districts that had been historically underfunded and to students with greater needs. Now, a new report by the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability shows that the EBF formula is doing exactly that. Educating Illinois: A … Continue reading EBF Funding Works, But We Need to Do More
Understanding TIFs
Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts have long been opposed by Illinois PTA, with our legislation platform supporting changes to the TIF law since 2009. But Illinois PTA has not made making changes to the TIF law an advocacy priority in the past for a variety of reasons: There hasn’t been any significant legislation in the … Continue reading Understanding TIFs
Why EBF Funding Matters
One of the issues Illinois PTA will be supporting at the 2022 Illinois PTA Convention and Advocacy Conference in Springfield on March 29-30 is increased funding for the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula. A new report from the Professional Review Panel (PRP), a group created by the Illinois General Assembly to oversee EBF funding and recommend … Continue reading Why EBF Funding Matters
Take 2 Minutes to Tell the Governor to Support School Funding!
Governor Pritzker’s budget address is coming up on February 2, 2022. Illinois PTA is encouraging all PTA members to send a note to the governor asking him to include at least $350 million in increased funding to the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula for FY23. The governor did not include increased EBF funding in last year’s … Continue reading Take 2 Minutes to Tell the Governor to Support School Funding!
Celebrating 2021 Legislative Successes
The Illinois General Assembly finished up their spring session in mid-June, and there is a lot for Illinois PTA members to celebrate. Here are the highlights from the spring. Note that many of these bills still await the signature of the governor to become law. Budget By far, the biggest success of the session was … Continue reading Celebrating 2021 Legislative Successes
Advocate for Education Funding Now!
Illinois PTA has advocated for education funding for decades and was instrumental in helping to pass the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula in 2017. In passing the EBF formula, the legislature promised to provide an additional $350 million every year to the formula to bring Illinois schools up to adequate levels of funding. Last year, no new money … Continue reading Advocate for Education Funding Now!
Questions to Ask a School Board Candidate
With school board elections coming up soon, your PTA or PTA Council can be involved in the election by hosting a candidate forum or by publishing candidate answers to a set of questions. As noted last week, PTAs are allowed to conduct a candidate forum or provide educational material, just remember not to send materials … Continue reading Questions to Ask a School Board Candidate
Elections—A Guide for PTAs
Local elections are coming up on April 6, 2021, and it is these elections, often featuring school board races and school funding referenda, that PTAs and their members are most often involved with. Because PTAs are 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations, the IRS sets specific limits on what PTAs can and can’t do regarding elections. Failure to … Continue reading Elections—A Guide for PTAs
The 2020 Illinois School Report Card: What’s New and What’s Missing
Illinois releases its school report card every year at the end of October, and the data presented can help you and your PTA understand what is happening in your district and in your child’s school. This year, because of the pandemic, there are a lot of exceptions noted on the school report card, but there is still … Continue reading The 2020 Illinois School Report Card: What’s New and What’s Missing
Play the Fund Education Instead Game
Schools are underfunded, both here in Illinois and across the nation. You probably already knew that. Now a new online game called Fund Education Instead from the Partnership for the Future of Learning and the National Education Policy Center seeks to highlight that this underfunding is not a fact of life, but a result of the choices our elected leaders make … Continue reading Play the Fund Education Instead Game
Current EBF School Funding Will Never Get Us to Adequately Funded Education
Illinois PTA strongly supported the passage in 2017 of the new Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula that directs additional school funding to those districts most in need. As part of that new formula, the legislature committed to increasing school funding by $350 million per year for 10 years. The results from the first two years of … Continue reading Current EBF School Funding Will Never Get Us to Adequately Funded Education
What’s New with the Illinois School Report Card
The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) released its annual school report card last week. There is one significant change to the report card this year as more of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) goes into effect: site-specific expenditure reporting. That means that the school report card now shows the federal and state/local funding … Continue reading What’s New with the Illinois School Report Card
How School Districts are Using Their New Funding
Illinois enacted a new school funding formulain August 2017. Known as the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) model, it calculates what adequate funding for a district would be and directs the majority of additional state funds to those districts furthest from adequacy. The legislature has committed to providing an additional $350 million per year for the next … Continue reading How School Districts are Using Their New Funding
5 Things to Know About the New Illinois School Report Card
Illinois’s school report cardwas released on October 31st, and there have been several changes this year due to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Here are five things families need to know about this year’s report card. There’s a new school rating system.Schools are now classified in one of four designations: Exemplary:Schools performing in the … Continue reading 5 Things to Know About the New Illinois School Report Card
5 Things to Know About Illinois’s New School Funding Formula
Last August, Illinois adopted a new evidence-based funding (EBF) formulafor providing new state funding for schools. The new EBF formula estimates what it actually costs to provide a quality education to students in each of Illinois’s 853 school districts (called the adequacy target) as well as the local tax resources available to the district to … Continue reading 5 Things to Know About Illinois’s New School Funding Formula
National PTA’s New Position Statement on Safe and Supportive Schools
As schools across the country are increasingly impacted by violence and natural disasters, National PTA’s board of directors adopted a new position statement on safe and supportive schools during its August board meeting. The statement calls for a multi-faceted approach to address school safety that involves all stakeholders, especially students, parents and families. “School safety is … Continue reading National PTA’s New Position Statement on Safe and Supportive Schools
Advance Illinois Launches Equity Dashboard
The new Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) model for school fundingin Illinois has had the first $350 million payment delivered earlier this month. This new funding begins the process of improving Illinois’s worst-in-the-nation funding equityby targeting the largest increases in state funding to the districts furthest from an adequate level of funding based on the EBF formula. … Continue reading Advance Illinois Launches Equity Dashboard
Three Reasons Why ISBE’s FY 2019 Funding Request Matters
You may have seen in the news recently that the Illinois State Board of Education’s (ISBE) budget request for the 2019 Fiscal Year (FY) is $15.7 billion, an increase of $7.5 billion over FY 2018. With Illinois’s financial issues well known, even ISBE acknowledges that this request is not going to be fully funded. But … Continue reading Three Reasons Why ISBE’s FY 2019 Funding Request Matters
Illinois PTA Advocacy Day 2017
Today is Illinois PTA Advocacy Day. Even if you can’t join us in Springfield, you can still participate. If you have a few minutes sometime in the next few days, send an e-mail to your legislators. The text is prewritten for you, though you can edit it or add more if you would like to. … Continue reading Illinois PTA Advocacy Day 2017
Illinois PTA Statement on SB1947
Today, Governor Bruce Rauner signed Senate Bill 1947 (SB1947), the negotiated agreement of Senate Bill 1 (SB1), into law. While Illinois PTA supported SB1, we called for an override of the governor’s amendatory veto of SB1 and did not support SB1947. Illinois PTA has long supported adequate, equitable, and sustainable funding of public schools, and … Continue reading Illinois PTA Statement on SB1947
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