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player ready...Despite a push in recent years to boost state spending on public education, Illinois ranks 48th in the nation in the percentage of total education dollars that comes from state coffers, according to data released Wednesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Of the $17 billion spent on Illinois elementary and secondary education in 2000, the state contributed 37 percent, according to the data. Only Nebraska and South Dakota shouldered a smaller percentage of the education-funding burden.
Most of Illinois school financing comes from local property taxes–nearly 49 percent of the $17 billion. Property owners in only four other states carry a heavier education tax load.
The new information is not particularly surprising. Illinois has long been ranked near the bottom when it comes to state education spending.
But the effect of the state’s heavy reliance on property taxes is a funding gap under which some wealthy districts spend as much as $17,000 per pupil and some poor districts spend less than $4,000. That disparity, educators say, has helped contribute to a gap in academic achievement.
“This clearly shows that our school financing structure is too dependent on property taxes and also shows we need to take a different approach to funding schools,” said Lee Milner, spokesman for the Illinois State Board of Education. “Despite the fact that the state government, in the last few years, has done a much better job of putting money into education, these figures show we still have a long way to go.”
It does not appear help will be coming anytime soon. State lawmakers are struggling to craft a new budget, which many expect will include a cut in state education spending. If so, it would be the first time in 10 years the state education budget took a hit.
Although state lawmakers across the country have spent the past decade tackling funding inequities, Congress is just now addressing the issue. U.S. legislators are scheduled to hear testimony Thursday on the inequality of state funding formulas.
The census figures also show that Illinois ranks 16th in the nation in average per-pupil spending. Illinois spends an average of $7,100 per pupil, compared with a national average of $6,835. New Jersey ranks No. 1, spending $10,283 on each.