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A VIEW FROM THE SUBURBS
Edgar's school funding plan by Madeleine Doubek
They don't buy the tale of woe Edgar and other downstate politicians tell. No matter how you sugar-coat the story, there is no happy ending for everyone. And in year after year of swipes at school funding, it's always the suburbs who end up the losers. The way suburban residents see it, they've been paying for their schools locally for years, while sending money to Springfield that ends up downstate or in Chicago. Why? Because the formula for distributing state school aid is skewed to favor areas with little property base and many poor students. School funding proposals floated this spring would have suburban taxpayers, who tend to have higher incomes, sending even more money to downstate and city schools. But suburban taxpayers expect little in return in the way of a property tax cut. Call suburban residents skeptics, but few expect to see their school districts spending less on their students. Sure, the suburbs have more property wealth to draw from than communities downstate, but more often than not, they also have gritted their teeth and voted to raise their own school taxes over the years. They understand their students need to go to college to succeed and compete in the metropolitan area. Downstate residents have less property wealth, but they've also shown less interest in boosting their own taxes to support schools. The suburbs have some of the highest property tax rates in the state. While the statewide contribution to school- children shrunk to its current level of 32.2 percent, the contribution suburban residents have made to their schools has expanded. A survey of northwest and western suburbs show school districts get between 58 percent and 97 percent of their funding from local taxes. In the northwest suburbs, it is common for districts to get close to 80 percent of their funds locally. It's a situation that makes folks in the suburbs say, "We're paying our fair share to support our schools, why can't they?" Where is the effort elsewhere? There hasn't been a ballot question asking Chicago residents to raise taxes for schools in years. Have downstate residents demonstrated they'll tax themselves more? Suburban legislators understand downstate communities don't have the property wealth the suburbs have, but some, like Republican state Sen. Marty Butler of Park Ridge, question whether downstate residents are putting a proportional share of money into their schools. "People wanted good schools and bought into the idea that it's costly," Butler says of the suburbs. "Downstate, they either were willing or content to let the schools kind of coast along." Last November, only 11 percent of the school tax ballot questions were approved by voters throughout the state. Only 46 percent of the requests for funds for construction and repairs passed. In 1994, only 36 percent of 45 tax questions were approved statewide, while 50 percent of the rebuilding initiatives passed. Much has been made about the fact that a North Shore district spends $15,744 annually per student, while downstate St. Rose Elementary District spends only $2,932. But the numbers that may have more meaning in the suburbs are ones that show some suburban school districts get little more than $230 in state funds per student, while others outside the suburbs get as much as $2,000. "Wealthy areas should help poorer ones," Butler says, "but not to the extent we have now." Edgar and his merry band in Springfield promise suburban property tax relief and more equity for all. "Many in the suburbs will benefit financially immediately by this approach," Edgar says. But many people in the suburbs already feel like they've been robbed. Madeleine Doubek is political editor of the Daily Herald, a suburban metro newspaper. She has covered politics since 1988. Illinois Issues April 1997 / 41 |
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