State Rep. Scott Drury is hosting a forum Thursday on a school funding issue that prompted an election-related lawsuit less than two weeks before voters go to the polls.
The incumbent Democrat said the forum is not a campaign event and was scheduled before his challenger, Republican Mark Neerhof, of Lake Forest, questioned his position on a school funding proposal known as Senate Bill 16. Suburban school officials say the plan would reduce state funding for wealthier school districts.
“When you’re a legislator and your constituents have concerns, you respond to those issues,” Drury said.
Drury said the forum is meant to educate voters on the pending proposal. The first-term Democrat from Highwood has said he opposes the bill and recently filed a lawsuit against Neerhof, among others, over political ads that alleged otherwise.
The bill passed from the Senate, but hasn’t yet been called for a vote in the House.
The forum will include presentations by the Illinois State Board of Education, the education advocacy group Advance Illinois — which supports the passage of the bill — and local school officials who have spoken out against it.
School superintendents in Highland Park and Deerfield sounded off last month in opposition, urging community members to contact Drury’s office as the bill had already passed the Senate.
In a letter to community members, District 113 Superintendent George Fornero said the district was projected to lose $1.4 million per year in state funding if the bill passed, which amounts to about 70 percent of the district’s state funding.
Likewise, in a blog, District 109 Superintendent Michael Lubelfeld said Deerfield’s public elementary and middle schools were projected to lose about $1.5 million in state funding, representing more than 50 percent of state aid.
District 112 Superintendent Michael Bregy said the district would lose about $2.6 million per year, or 55 percent of the total state funding.
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“While this is an attempt by the state legislators to provide greater equity among school districts across the state, it fails to address the real issue: inadequate state funding for education,” Bregy said in a letter to community members.
Neerhof did not comment on Drury’s forum, but issued a statement Monday again questioning his opponent’s position.
“Mr. Drury refused to sign a bipartisan resolution in opposition to (the bill),” Neerhof said in a prepared statement.
Drury said he felt more inclined to educate and engage his constituents directly.
The forum begins 7 p.m. on Thursday at Deerfield High School.