Thievery Of School Funding

As you may have heard, a piece of legislation is pending in the Illinois House that would significantly change the way General State Aid (GSA) for education is distributed to Illinois school districts. As written, it would strip millions in GSA away from most suburban school districts and channel that money to Chicago and downstate schools. It is an unfair and inequitable redistribution of funds, and while I support full, fair, comprehensive reforms to the school funding formula, I cannot and will not support an initiative that would cripple the school districts located in my legislative district. This includes District 47, which would lose close to $5.8 million per year, District 155, which would lose $1.4 million per year, District 158, which would lose $2.1 million per year, and District 300, which would lose $2 million per year.

I need your help in stopping this damaging piece of legislation. Please sign a petition against SB16. You can access the petition here. After signing the petition, please take the added step of forwarding this letter on to your friends.

SB16 was approved in the Illinois Senate during the final days of the Spring legislative session but was not called for a vote in the House of Representatives prior to the May adjournment. However, legislators from the House Republican Caucus recently learned that Democrat leaders have been holding meetings this summer and fall and are deciding how best to resurrect the bill. No Republican lawmakers were invited to attend these meetings. In fact, we only learned about them when education advocacy groups told us they were taking place. These meetings are continuing to occur, and it is possible that a revised version of the bill will emerge during a during a lame duck session of the General Assembly some time after the November 4 election.

Lame Duck sessions are dangerous. During this period of time between an election and when new legislators are sworn into office, unpopular and controversial legislation is often brought for a vote, with deals made to benefit legislators preparing to leave office. These legislators, who are no longer accountable to their constituent base, are able to take votes that are not in their constituents' best interests because they have nothing to lose. This is how the 67% "temporary" income tax hike was passed. 

Several legislators who oppose SB16 have signed on as sponsors of a resolution that denounces SB16 and expresses support for comprehensive and fair school funding formula reforms. I am a Chief Co-Sponsor of HR1276, and you can read our resolution here.

SB16 does not solve education funding issues in Illinois. It simply reallocates existing funds in a way that is very punitive to most suburban districts. I hope you will join me in the fight against this bill.

Mike Tryon

http://www.ilhousegop.org/