Legislative Action

This spring, like most springs, state lawmakers will tangle with the issue of education funding. Adding to the urgency will be a lawsuit brought by school districts challenging the constitutionality of the current funding scheme, which permits wide disparities in per pupil spending. At the same time, overall state education spending has been stuck for two years at the fiscal year 1990 level.

As part of that debate, critics of the current state of school funding will complain that state government is not pulling its weight in paying for schools. Taken as near-universal truth is the position that the state spends too little on schools. Closer scrutiny of the numbers makes the case much less clear.

Critics will argue that Illinois state government spends less of its resources for education than similar states. Among 13 industrial and surrounding states, Illinois state government's 36.7 percent share of total education spending for school year 1990-1991 was second from the bottom; only Michigan's 35.4 percent was lower.

When the measure is total revenues, combining local, state and federal, Illinois ranked higher for the 1990-1991 school year. Its $6,063 in average per pupil spending from all sources placed Illinois near the top, surpassed only by Florida's $6,211, New York's $9,244, Pennsylvania's $7,197 and Wisconsin's $6,386. The 50-state average was $5,811.

General state school aid per pupil, 10-year overview
Fiscal year	Enrollment (thousands)	General state aid (millions)	General state aid per pupil (1982 $)
1982	1,889.8	$1,517	$830
1983	1,856.1	1,382	726
1984	1,827.7	1,437	733
1985	1,808.7	1,476	725
1986	1,800.1	1,676	798
1987	1,794.3	1,819	842
1988	1,781.3	1,773	792
1989	1,763.6	1,823	783
1990	1,763.0	2,073	852
1991	1,781.9	2,106	818
Source: Compiled from Comptroller's Monthly Fiscal Report, October 1991.

Critics will also point to education's declining share of the state budget. In fiscal year 1991 state spending for elementary and secondary education amounted to 24.3 percent of total general funds spending. The highest percentage for the last 10 years came in fiscal year 1982, when education spending accounted for 25.1 percent of general funds spending. While that decline is small monetarily, it came during a decade when all kinds of attention was given public schools, at least rhetorically. Had education maintained its 1982 funding share, total spending in fiscal 1991 would have been $3.449 billion, or $109 million more than actually spent.

Critics can make a similar case that increases in state school spending have been minimal. Between fiscal years 1982 and 1991, state spending for education increased from $2.133 billion to $3.340 billion, an increase of 57 percent. In 1982 dollars the increase was 4.9 percent, from $2.204 billion to $2.311 billion. However, the modest increase in state funding came despite a 5.7 percent enrollment decline. When the enrollment decline is considered, per pupil state spending in constant dollars increased 11.2 percent over the decade.

The overall figures mask changes in the way that the state has been apportioning its funds to schools. Over the last decade, more money has gone to specific programs like those for early childhood education and for reading. Less, in inflation adjusted dollars, has gone into the general state school aid formula. In 1982 general state aid spending per pupil was $830; in 1991 the per pupil state aid spending in 1982 dollars was $818, a spending decline of 1.4 percent.

Per pupil receipts by source for school districts, four-year change by region
	1985-86 school year	1989-90 school year	percent change
Chicago
Local	$1,619	$2,471	52.6%
State	1,856	2,179	17.4
Federal	480	608	26.7
TOTAL	3,956	5,257	32.9
Suburban*
Local	3,506	4,481	27.8
State	896	1,096	22.3
Federal	98	137	39.8
TOTAL	4,501	5,713	26.9
Downstate
Local	1,833	2,080	13.5
State	1,221	1,774	45.3
Federal	156	203	30.1
TOTAL	3,210	4,057	26.4
*Suburban Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties. Source: Compiled from comptroller's reports.

Adding to the dilemma for lawmakers are regional differences in funding schools. Suburban Chicago (DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will and suburban Cook counties) have the most resources per pupil when local, state and federal sources are combined. Next come Chicago schools and then schools from the rest of the state. These figures for total receipts show that between the 1985-1986 and 1989-1990 school years Chicago schools saw the greatest increase in receipts per pupil, 32.9 percent. Per pupil receipts increased 26.9 percent to suburban Chicago districts and 26.4 percent to all other schools.

That means that total funding for Chicago public schools has been increasing faster than for either suburban or "downstate" schools. And Chicago's new resources have come increasingly from local sources (primarily the property tax). Compared to Chicago, local sources have increased half as fast for suburban schools and a quarter as fast for non-Chicago area schools. In fact the biggest increase overall has come in local sources for Chicago, followed by state sources for non-Chicago area schools. The switch has come as the school aid formula has diverted state money from Chicago, which has seen property values increase, to schools downstate, where there has been little or no growth in property values.

Several facts should be kept in mind when listening to the school funding debate. First, over the last decade state government spending for schools has exceeded inflation. On a per pupil basis, state school spending has considerably exceeded inflation. Third, over the last four years non-Chicago area schools have received a bigger piece of the state government education pie.

26/January 1992/Illinois Issues