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Concern for Galesburg and Knoxville school funding if AV override fails

The Illinois Senate on Sunday took the first step towards overriding Gov. Bruce Rauner’s amendatory veto of SB1, the bill that would fund Illinois schools under a new evidence based model.Numbers released from the Illinois State Board of Education show that almost every district in the state would receive more state aid this school year under Rauner’s amendatory veto than the Democratic approved SB1.

Superintendent of Knoxville schools Steve Wilder however issued a statement that says while an extra $350,000 under Rauner’s plan would be good in the short term for Knoxville, the AV could make for long term problems.

He says the increase under the amendatory veto comes from the $200 million that Democrats wanted to give to Chicago Public Schools for pensions.

Wilder says after a year funding would go back to levels under the original SB1 and probably less.

A part of the amendatory veto has a provision that districts must count TIF district property values in the formula that figures how much a district will receive.

Essentially, it would look like Knoxville has more taxable property than they really have access to and therefore the state would provide less funds.

Galesburg District 205 is in a similar situation.

Sen. Chuck Weaver voted against the override saying “the Governor’s veto made this legislation into a fair system of funding for all needy schools,”

The bill now heads to the Illinois House, which is scheduled to convene on Wednesday.

A 3/5 majority would be needed in that chamber to make the bill law but the votes to enact the override are less certain there.

Link to spreadsheets that show funding under various proposals

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