Metro-east schools get projections for next year’s funding

State funding for K-12 schools should increase for most metro-east schools under a proposal to change the way state aid is calculated and to end the practice of “prorating” state payments to schools.

The Illinois State Board of Education has released projections showing how much state aid will be directed to each school district under Gov. Bruce Rauner’s plan. State aid is calculated under a formula based on a district’s enrollment, the number and percentage of students that live in poverty and property values of a district.

In recent years, the state has had a policy of paying only 89 to 92 percent of what it owes to school districts, which often led to millions shortchanged for local districts. This proposal would end that practice and fully fund the districts, according to a release from ISBE.

Of the 39 school districts in Madison and St. Clair County, 12 would see a decrease in state aid funding, including East St. Louis, Edwardsville, Cahokia, Granite City and Venice, among others. But when the pro-ration is figured in, all but one district will see an increase in total funding.

For example, East St. Louis District 189 will see a net gain of $4.8 million if proration is ended, despite losing $880,705 in state aid. Granite City School District 9 will see a net gain of $1.8 million, despite losing more than $600,000 in state aid. Belleville School District 118 will see an additional $715,358 in state aid and gain $2.14 million back from proration, for a net gain of $2.86 million.

Belleville 118 Superintendent Matt Klosterman said the change would be “on the surface, unbelievably positive.”

“We understand on the surface why they’ve been doing the proration, but it has just been killing us,” Klosterman said. “Our district is heavily reliant on general state aid, so when they prorated state aid, it’s been a significant loss of revenue we should have had over these years.”

However, Klosterman said he is cautious about “the fine print.” He said there has been discussion about merging other sources of state funding into the general state aid, such as reimbursements for transportation costs or special education.

“If it’s strictly an allocation for more revenue and eliminating proration, that’s something we obviously would take a positive look at; that’s a significant amount of money for our district,” Klosterman said. “But to end proration, they have to put more money into the state aid. Is it coming from somewhere else, or is that new money? Where is it coming from? Is it coming from a revenue source we already have and we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul? ... Then you have to calculate what we might be losing on the other side.”

Other districts likewise are not counting the extra funds until they’re in the bank.

“The district has developed its budget projections conservatively, expecting less GSA funding next year with the same proration as this year,” said Edwardsville Superintendent Lynda Andre. “The district will not ‘count’ on any additional revenue from the state until a budget for K-12 education is adopted for the 2016-17 fiscal year.”

Collinsville School District 10 Superintendent Robert Green said it has become a political issue. “We will wait until the state government makes a decision before we comment,” he said. Collinsville is projected to gain about $1.08 million in state aid and regain $2.45 million from proration, for a net gain of $3.53 million.

Harmony-Emge Superintendent Pam Leonard said she expects to see many sets of numbers released as legislators try to work out a solution to school funding, and doubts that this plan will be improved because many districts statewide end up losing money.

“As you can see, it is really a time to observe what is happening, voice district concerns, then wait to see what our elected officials do in Springfield,” Leonard said. “I have learned many years ago, that you don't count on getting the money until it is in your hand.”

However, Klosterman said he’s “very encouraged” that lawmakers are even having the conversation about ending proration, given that Belleville 118 has seen property values decline by more than $34 million over the last five years. “We understand why it was happening, but that’s revenue that was gone for us,” he said. “We should have been receiving more in (state funding) to offset that loss, but they’ve been pro-rating state aid.”

State Superintendent Tony Smith said the “vast majority” of districts statewide will receive more state money than previous years by ending proration, regardless of whether their state aid decreased.

“By fully funding education and ending proration, we’re putting more money into the classrooms to educate our young scholars,” he said.

Granite City Superintendent Jim Greenwald said state funding is “always very uncertain.”

“We work hard to maintain and sustain and are as frugal as possible,” he said. “We went into this year with a balanced budget, which is not easy to maintain. The current projections will still by all means keep us in a very challenging situation. We continue to move forward in a positive direction.”

East St. Louis Superintendent Arthur Culver said the ISBE projection adds $4.8 million to the district’s budget. “The government state aid allotment will bring us closer to maintaining the current level of support we provide to our students,” he said.

In the metro-east, only Wolf Branch District 113 ends up losing more than it had in previous years. The district would lose about $189,063 in state aid, which is nearly double the amount it will gain back from proration. In all, Wolf Branch will end up with about $92,000 less in funding.

“Obviously we are disappointed that the numbers are the way they are,” said Wolf Branch Superintendent Scott Harres. For Wolf Branch, he said, it comes down to attendance: the K-8 district graduated a very large eighth-grade class and simply didn’t have as many incoming kindergarteners.

However, Harres said, they have had a number of students come into the district during the year, and next year’s kindergarten predictions are higher than the last two years. “We’re hoping to gain back those numbers and ride the storm,” Harres said.

Regarding the restoration of pro-rated funds, Harres said it would be welcome. “We’re talking in the neighborhood of nearly $100,000 a year, and for a small district, that could have helped us,” he said.

But like Greenwald and other school leaders, they are looking at upcoming legislation that may change the way schools are funded in Illinois. “We have to get the legislators and the governor to come together on a funding option that is more fair,” Harres said. He pointed out the state constitution requires that the state is responsible for the majority of school funding to take the burden off local taxpayers, but the actual percentage of state funding has never been close to half the cost of educating students.

Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery said that the proposal to end proration is not a real education funding reform plan.

“He (Governor Rauner) merely suggested putting slightly more money into the same broken formula without addressing the core need for fairness or adequacy,” Montgomery said. “We’d be foolish to think this is a silver bullet, especially coming from a governor who is presiding over an epic collapse of social services and higher education because he refuses to ask the wealthy to pay their fair share.”

Montgomery said for the first time in years, the state legislature is having “a meaningful conversation” about school funding, but the governor’s proposal is distracting from that debate.

“With limited resources, teachers and school staff are doing their best to educate students whose families are losing the support they need today and the college educations they want tomorrow,” he said.

The proposed funding plan is part of Rauner’s FY2017 education budget, which is pending in the state legislature along with various other bills to restructure education funding.

This story was originally published April 12, 2016 at 12:51 PM with the headline "Metro-east schools get projections for next year’s funding."