School districts across northwestern Illinois will receive more money from the state, under a compromise proposal that will overhaul Illinois’ current broken education funding formula, according to Senator Tim Bivins.

Data provided by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) show unparalleled gains for schools across the state.

“Lawmakers have been working for years to fix Illinois’ broken education funding system that has left too many schools with insufficient resources, which then dumps the burden of funding on local property taxpayers. Some of the proposed changes over the years have initially seemed promising, but end up being little more than an elaborate reshuffling of state aid that pits schools against one another, taking money away from some districts and sending it to others. I have never supported any measure that robs Peter to pay Paul,” Bivins said.

Senate Bill 1124 (Senate Floor Amendment 3) relies on an evidence-based model that provides for low-income students while ensuring that all 852 school districts across the state receive more state funding than they would under any other education proposal being considered.

Some of the biggest area gains include Freeport School District 145, Rochelle Township High School District 212, Rochelle Community Consolidated District 231, and Mendota Community Consolidated School District 289, which each would receive at least $300 or more in additional state funding per student.

Senate Bill 1124 has many bipartisan components but it differs from other reform plans, like Senate Bill 1, in the way it treats Chicago Public Schools. Whereas Senate Bill 1 funnels hundreds of millions of dollars toward just the one district, Senate Bill 1124 treats all districts equally and rejects the cycle of Chicago Public Schools bailouts.

“All lawmakers, no matter what our towns or regions or school districts, should have as our common goal a plan to ensure we’re doing the best for our students,” Senator Bivins said. “With the suggested changes to Senate Bill 1124, we are doing just that.”

Full results of the ISBE analysis for Senate Bill 1124 (Senate Floor Amendment 3) are available at https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Education-Funding-Proposals.aspx.