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Projected
per-district funding levels released by the Illinois State Board
of Education on Tuesday indicate CPS would receive nearly $893
million in the fiscal year that begins July 1, a drop of $74.4
million from the current fiscal year.
"It makes our already grave fiscal crisis graver," CPS CEO
Forrest Claypool told reporters. "That's why his budget must be
defeated."
He added that state funding for the nation's third-largest
public school system was cut by $106 million in fiscal 2016.
CPS is struggling with a $1.1 billion structural budget deficit
caused largely by escalating pension payments. The district,
which has credit ratings in the "junk" level, has been dependent
on borrowing to generate cash flow.
The Republican governor in February proposed boosting
per-student funding in K-12 public schools to $6,119, the
highest level in seven years. However, some districts like CPS
would have a decrease in general state aid based on lower
enrollment and other factors.
Claypool said Illinois needs to replace its "radically
discriminatory education funding formula," claiming it
short-changes Chicago's poor and minority children. He called a
new funding plan unveiled by Senate Democrats last week "a step
in the right direction," but not a complete fix.
Legislation unveiled by Democratic Senator Andy Manar is aimed
at providing more funding to high-need, high-poverty schools.
Claypool said he was also encouraged by Democratic House Speaker
Michael Madigan's proposed amendment to the Illinois
Constitution that would make public education a fundamental
right, while giving the state the "preponderant" responsibility
for funding schools.
(Reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by Matthew Lewis)
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