From: Illinois Tea Party
Thank you to Jan Shaw who sent pdf copy of proposed ILGOP 2016 Platform:
2012_ILGOP_Platform
2012-2016PlatformIllinoisRepublicanjlscomments (2)
STOP SB231 IN THE HOUSE
Senator Oberweis: Chicago Public Schools Bailout Plan forced through Senate
Suburban and downstate school districts could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in state aid every year under a Chicago Public School bailout plan forced through the Senate May 10, according to State Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove).
Initial numbers released by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) showed that Senate Bill 231 would lead to about $197 million in losses in suburban and downstate districts. According to the data from the ISBE, Senate Bill 231 would pull more than $66.3 million from collar county schools, more than $101.3 million from North Cook County schools, and more than $28.7 million in funding from downstate schools, all to redirect nearly $175 million in additional funding to Chicago Public Schools.
Oberweis said Senate Bill 231 is a major step backward in the effort to reform the state’s current school funding formula, and is little more than a plan to funnel suburban and downstate dollars into the bankrupt Chicago school system.
“I agree that we need to reform school funding, but this is not the way to do it. This is a 500-page Chicago Public Schools bailout that few legislators understand. I suggested a simple approach. X dollars per student plus Y dollars per student in poverty plus Z dollars per student with special needs. That would be understandable by all and fair for all. I suggested a bipartisan panel to work on coming up with those three numbers,” Oberweis said. “But this is a bad bill. The Chicago Public Schools system needs significant reforms before we hand it $750 million worth of special deals, which this bill does.”
SB 231 now goes to the Illinois House of Representatives, where there is much more doubt as to what will happen.
The bill would cut special ed funding by almost 1/3, and would ELIMINATE the $9,000 for each special ed teacher and other professionals working full-time with students with IEPs.
Instead Illinois would have a Formula Special Education Block Grant that could be spent by a local school district for ANY purpose.
PLEASE MAKE SURE YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE KNOWS THAT YOU ARE OPPOSED TO THE SPECIAL EDUCATION PARTS OF SENATE BILL 231, AND WHY.
SB 231 would ABOLISH direct and dedicated funding for special education in Illinois and replace it with a formula special education Block Grant that could be spent on ANY student or for ANY purpose.
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SCHOOL DISTRICT CONSOLIDATION A STEP TOWARD MUCH NEEDED PROPERTY TAX RELIEF!
Many Illinoisans sense their property taxes are out of control, but not all of them know more than 60 percent of property-tax revenue goes toward their local school districts. Illinois has 859 local school districts – the fifth-most in the nation. Many are large, expensive and redundant bureaucracies that contribute to Illinois’ growing debt, waste and corruption. Those districts are ripe for consolidation. If all school districts in Illinois managed half a dozen schools and thousands of children, the high count of districts might be justifiable. But that’s not the case. The reality is nearly half of Illinois school districts serve just one to two schools. And over one-third of all Illinois school districts have fewer than 600 students. Having two layers of bureaucracy in such small districts is inefficient and a huge drain on taxpayers’ wallets.
