Monday, August 01, 2005
Despite state effort, poor districts can't gain ground on rich
chicagotribune.com
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0508010154aug01,1,2183094.story?coll=chi-newslocal-hed
Spending gap grows for schools
Despite state effort, poor districts can't gain ground on rich
By Diane Rado and Darnell Little
Tribune staff reporters
August 1, 2005
The gap in pupil spending between the richest and the poorest school districts in Illinois grew even wider last year, despite Gov. Rod Blagojevich's push to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars more in state aid to less-affluent schools.
The difference between the highest- and lowest-spending districts was $19,361 per pupil in 2003-04, about $4,000 higher than the year before and the biggest school-spending gap in a decade, a Tribune analysis of state financial data shows.
Local property taxes continued to make up the bulk of school resources, with richer communities pouring more money into their schools. That dwarfed an influx of state aid to poorer schools.
In a state criticized nationally for a school system of haves and have nots, the newest spending figures have given tax-reform advocates new impetus to push for wholesale change in the way Illinois pays for schools.
"The state cannot allow us to keep having wider and wider gaps between wealthy and poor districts," said Sharon Voliva, a school board member and chairman of the Better Funding for Better Schools Coalition, which supports raising statewide taxes and reducing reliance on local property taxes.
Solutions for closing the gap have remained elusive, with politicians, including Blagojevich, unwilling to raise the state income tax or consider more controversial measures, such as limiting spending by affluent districts. A bill that would have raised state income taxes and helped pay a portion of local property owners' school tax bills died in the spring legislative session.
Meanwhile, spending disparities play out in classrooms every day.
Cook County's Northbrook Grade School District 27 is so flush with cash that it spends $15,308 per pupil, pays teachers an average salary of about $64,000 and can afford school repair projects without borrowing a dime.
Twenty miles to the south, the struggling Bellwood elementary district in west Cook spends $6,828 per pupil and pays teachers about $44,000 on average. Leaky roofs and moldy carpets aren't repaired, and 20 special-education teacher jobs remain vacant, even though the new school year is fast approaching.
"Money makes a difference because then you are able to attract the better teachers," said Bellwood interim Supt. Willie Mack, whose students are mostly minority and poor.
At the two extremes, the tiny Rondout elementary district in Lake County spent $23,799 per pupil in 2003-04, compared with $4,438 spent by Central School District 51, a grade school district in Tazewell County in the middle of the state.
A broader look at school districts showed the top 10 percent of districts spent an average of $12,898 per pupil, compared with $5,862 for the bottom 10 percent--virtually unchanged from the year before.
The state's contribution to public education--about 30 percent of all school revenue--also remained unchanged, despite a $400.9 million increase in state aid in 2003-04.
About $300 million of that amount went to raising the "foundation level," the base guaranteed per-pupil aid, by $250, the largest increase since 2000. Because of the way Illinois distributes school money, less-affluent districts benefit more than wealthy districts when the foundation level increases.
Although $400 million sounds big, it got lost in the larger picture of school funding: A total of $19.3 billion went into schools from federal, state and local sources in 2003-04. Of that figure, 62 percent came from local sources, mainly property taxes.
Those local revenues rose by $842.9 million, almost 8 percent more than the year before and the highest annual increase in a decade. Education officials attributed the increase to school tax referendum items and property reassessments that brought in more taxes, among other reasons.
Elliot Regenstein, the governor's director of education reform, said local communities likely felt pressured to raise more money because state aid to education dropped in 2002-03, the budget year before Blagojevich took office. The decrease in state aid was about $106 million that year, state finance data show.
Blagojevich will continue to focus on increasing the base per-pupil state aid, Regenstein said.
"We are making a serious and sustained effort to improve the conditions of those schools most in need in state funding," he said.
But some educators, lawmakers and tax-reform advocates say Blagojevich's efforts, though well intentioned, won't solve the problem of inequitable school spending in Illinois.
"What we're seeing, really, is minor infusions [of state aid]. The only way to make up for tremendous gaps is tremendous infusions," said Ralph Martire, executive director of the Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a leader in school finance reform efforts.
State Sen. Miguel del Valle (D-Chicago), co-chairman of a Senate committee that has been examining school tax reform, said total equity--equal funding among school districts--is no longer his goal, given political realities.
Politicians are loath to bring down top-spending districts or force rich districts to share their wealth.
Litigation nationwide, too, has shifted from equity to adequacy--ensuring that all children receive at least the level of education guaranteed by their state constitutions.
"I gave up speaking about equity," del Valle said. "What I talk about is adequacy instead of equity, and I think that's our goal."
Still, Illinois lags far behind a foundation level of $6,405 per student that a school spending advisory board recommended this spring. The foundation amount is $5,164 for the upcoming school year.
The situation becomes murky because research has shown that more money isn't always necessary or even strongly linked to higher scores on achievement tests.
In the lowest-spending district, Central School District 51 in Tazewell County, for example, about 80 percent of students passed state tests in reading, math and other subjects in 2004, well above the state average of 62.4 percent.
Supt. Kirk Hines acknowledged that the district has few low-income or special-education students, who usually demand more resources.
And unlike more affluent districts, Central 51 doesn't offer an art program or foreign language programs in elementary or junior high. The average teacher salary last year was about $39,000. There was no school librarian until about two years ago--the district relied on parent volunteers--and there is no school nurse.
Hines said he also serves as business manager and transportation director to save on administrative costs. This summer, he's even getting licensed to drive a school bus, so he can be a back-up driver when necessary.
In affluent Northbrook District 27, students have a full instrumental music program, and children can get small group lessons in several instruments. There are art classes twice a week and foreign language classes in middle school.
Class sizes remain small--18 to 20 students--and the district has invested in teacher training by increasing the number of professional development days and assigning staff to work full-time on teacher training. In 2004, 88 percent of the district's students passed state tests.
Supt. David Kroeze said the community has committed itself to supporting its schools and his and other affluent districts shouldn't be hurt if Illinois changes its school finance system.
"The answer is not in redistributing property tax dollars from one part of the state to another," he said.
However, "I think that we do need more money in education, and it should go to districts that do not have sufficient funds to operate," Kroeze said.
But research also has shown that disadvantaged students need and can benefit from higher spending, including extra tutoring and small class sizes.
In Bellwood District 88 in west Cook County, 54 percent of students are low-income and the vast majority of children are black or Hispanic. Only 45.5 percent of students passed state tests last year.
And although interim Supt. Mack praises his teachers and staff, he said he doesn't have money to compete for the best reading, math and special-education specialists that his students need.
The inequities in school spending have gone on for years in Illinois, Mack said, and all the discussions have yet to produce a solution.
In the meantime, he said, "we do the best we can."
- - -
Spending gap widens between school districts
Disparities in pupil spending across Illinois are getting worse, with the gap between the highest and lowest-spending districts increasing by 26 percent between 2002-03 and 2003-04, the largest increase in a decade.
ILLINOIS SCHOOL DISTRICTS' SPENDING
Spending per pupil (1994-2004)
Highest spender: $23,799
Rondout School District 72, Lake County
Lowest spender: $4,438
Central School District 51, Tazewell County
HOW ILLINOIS PAYS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
By percent of total
Local communities pick up most of the tab for schools through property taxes, and wealthy communities can afford to spend more than poor ones on their schoolchildren.
Local State Federal
1994 66.1% 28.1% 5.9% $11.1 billion
1996 66.7% 27.3% 6.0% $12.3 billion
1998 65.3% 28.4% 6.4% $13.9 billion
2000 62.1% 30.9% 7.1% $16.3 billion
2002 61.4% 31.2% 7.3% $17.5 billion
2004 62.0% 30.0% 8.0% $19.3 billion
Note: Go to the Illinois State Board of Education's ILEARN website to view a district's spending.
Source: Illinois State Board of Education
Chicago Tribune
- See microfilm for complete graphic.
----------
drado@tribune.com
dlittle@tribune.com
Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0508010154aug01,1,2183094.story?coll=chi-newslocal-hed
Spending gap grows for schools
Despite state effort, poor districts can't gain ground on rich
By Diane Rado and Darnell Little
Tribune staff reporters
August 1, 2005
The gap in pupil spending between the richest and the poorest school districts in Illinois grew even wider last year, despite Gov. Rod Blagojevich's push to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars more in state aid to less-affluent schools.
The difference between the highest- and lowest-spending districts was $19,361 per pupil in 2003-04, about $4,000 higher than the year before and the biggest school-spending gap in a decade, a Tribune analysis of state financial data shows.
Local property taxes continued to make up the bulk of school resources, with richer communities pouring more money into their schools. That dwarfed an influx of state aid to poorer schools.
In a state criticized nationally for a school system of haves and have nots, the newest spending figures have given tax-reform advocates new impetus to push for wholesale change in the way Illinois pays for schools.
"The state cannot allow us to keep having wider and wider gaps between wealthy and poor districts," said Sharon Voliva, a school board member and chairman of the Better Funding for Better Schools Coalition, which supports raising statewide taxes and reducing reliance on local property taxes.
Solutions for closing the gap have remained elusive, with politicians, including Blagojevich, unwilling to raise the state income tax or consider more controversial measures, such as limiting spending by affluent districts. A bill that would have raised state income taxes and helped pay a portion of local property owners' school tax bills died in the spring legislative session.
Meanwhile, spending disparities play out in classrooms every day.
Cook County's Northbrook Grade School District 27 is so flush with cash that it spends $15,308 per pupil, pays teachers an average salary of about $64,000 and can afford school repair projects without borrowing a dime.
Twenty miles to the south, the struggling Bellwood elementary district in west Cook spends $6,828 per pupil and pays teachers about $44,000 on average. Leaky roofs and moldy carpets aren't repaired, and 20 special-education teacher jobs remain vacant, even though the new school year is fast approaching.
"Money makes a difference because then you are able to attract the better teachers," said Bellwood interim Supt. Willie Mack, whose students are mostly minority and poor.
At the two extremes, the tiny Rondout elementary district in Lake County spent $23,799 per pupil in 2003-04, compared with $4,438 spent by Central School District 51, a grade school district in Tazewell County in the middle of the state.
A broader look at school districts showed the top 10 percent of districts spent an average of $12,898 per pupil, compared with $5,862 for the bottom 10 percent--virtually unchanged from the year before.
The state's contribution to public education--about 30 percent of all school revenue--also remained unchanged, despite a $400.9 million increase in state aid in 2003-04.
About $300 million of that amount went to raising the "foundation level," the base guaranteed per-pupil aid, by $250, the largest increase since 2000. Because of the way Illinois distributes school money, less-affluent districts benefit more than wealthy districts when the foundation level increases.
Although $400 million sounds big, it got lost in the larger picture of school funding: A total of $19.3 billion went into schools from federal, state and local sources in 2003-04. Of that figure, 62 percent came from local sources, mainly property taxes.
Those local revenues rose by $842.9 million, almost 8 percent more than the year before and the highest annual increase in a decade. Education officials attributed the increase to school tax referendum items and property reassessments that brought in more taxes, among other reasons.
Elliot Regenstein, the governor's director of education reform, said local communities likely felt pressured to raise more money because state aid to education dropped in 2002-03, the budget year before Blagojevich took office. The decrease in state aid was about $106 million that year, state finance data show.
Blagojevich will continue to focus on increasing the base per-pupil state aid, Regenstein said.
"We are making a serious and sustained effort to improve the conditions of those schools most in need in state funding," he said.
But some educators, lawmakers and tax-reform advocates say Blagojevich's efforts, though well intentioned, won't solve the problem of inequitable school spending in Illinois.
"What we're seeing, really, is minor infusions [of state aid]. The only way to make up for tremendous gaps is tremendous infusions," said Ralph Martire, executive director of the Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a leader in school finance reform efforts.
State Sen. Miguel del Valle (D-Chicago), co-chairman of a Senate committee that has been examining school tax reform, said total equity--equal funding among school districts--is no longer his goal, given political realities.
Politicians are loath to bring down top-spending districts or force rich districts to share their wealth.
Litigation nationwide, too, has shifted from equity to adequacy--ensuring that all children receive at least the level of education guaranteed by their state constitutions.
"I gave up speaking about equity," del Valle said. "What I talk about is adequacy instead of equity, and I think that's our goal."
Still, Illinois lags far behind a foundation level of $6,405 per student that a school spending advisory board recommended this spring. The foundation amount is $5,164 for the upcoming school year.
The situation becomes murky because research has shown that more money isn't always necessary or even strongly linked to higher scores on achievement tests.
In the lowest-spending district, Central School District 51 in Tazewell County, for example, about 80 percent of students passed state tests in reading, math and other subjects in 2004, well above the state average of 62.4 percent.
Supt. Kirk Hines acknowledged that the district has few low-income or special-education students, who usually demand more resources.
And unlike more affluent districts, Central 51 doesn't offer an art program or foreign language programs in elementary or junior high. The average teacher salary last year was about $39,000. There was no school librarian until about two years ago--the district relied on parent volunteers--and there is no school nurse.
Hines said he also serves as business manager and transportation director to save on administrative costs. This summer, he's even getting licensed to drive a school bus, so he can be a back-up driver when necessary.
In affluent Northbrook District 27, students have a full instrumental music program, and children can get small group lessons in several instruments. There are art classes twice a week and foreign language classes in middle school.
Class sizes remain small--18 to 20 students--and the district has invested in teacher training by increasing the number of professional development days and assigning staff to work full-time on teacher training. In 2004, 88 percent of the district's students passed state tests.
Supt. David Kroeze said the community has committed itself to supporting its schools and his and other affluent districts shouldn't be hurt if Illinois changes its school finance system.
"The answer is not in redistributing property tax dollars from one part of the state to another," he said.
However, "I think that we do need more money in education, and it should go to districts that do not have sufficient funds to operate," Kroeze said.
But research also has shown that disadvantaged students need and can benefit from higher spending, including extra tutoring and small class sizes.
In Bellwood District 88 in west Cook County, 54 percent of students are low-income and the vast majority of children are black or Hispanic. Only 45.5 percent of students passed state tests last year.
And although interim Supt. Mack praises his teachers and staff, he said he doesn't have money to compete for the best reading, math and special-education specialists that his students need.
The inequities in school spending have gone on for years in Illinois, Mack said, and all the discussions have yet to produce a solution.
In the meantime, he said, "we do the best we can."
- - -
Spending gap widens between school districts
Disparities in pupil spending across Illinois are getting worse, with the gap between the highest and lowest-spending districts increasing by 26 percent between 2002-03 and 2003-04, the largest increase in a decade.
ILLINOIS SCHOOL DISTRICTS' SPENDING
Spending per pupil (1994-2004)
Highest spender: $23,799
Rondout School District 72, Lake County
Lowest spender: $4,438
Central School District 51, Tazewell County
HOW ILLINOIS PAYS FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
By percent of total
Local communities pick up most of the tab for schools through property taxes, and wealthy communities can afford to spend more than poor ones on their schoolchildren.
Local State Federal
1994 66.1% 28.1% 5.9% $11.1 billion
1996 66.7% 27.3% 6.0% $12.3 billion
1998 65.3% 28.4% 6.4% $13.9 billion
2000 62.1% 30.9% 7.1% $16.3 billion
2002 61.4% 31.2% 7.3% $17.5 billion
2004 62.0% 30.0% 8.0% $19.3 billion
Note: Go to the Illinois State Board of Education's ILEARN website to view a district's spending.
Source: Illinois State Board of Education
Chicago Tribune
- See microfilm for complete graphic.
----------
drado@tribune.com
dlittle@tribune.com
Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune
# posted by Gene @ 6:37 PM 
