State must stop diverting school funding to Chicago

The City of Big Shoulders needs to carry its own weight when it comes to education funding. We need reform.

The state legislature cannot continue the way they always have. At the local level we have done our part. In the village of Wauconda we have made significant cuts and had three record years of surpluses. Our village had an $815,000 surplus in fiscal year 2015, which is almost 10 percent of our operating budget.

However, the taxpayer doesn't see the savings because the lion's share of suburban property taxes goes to their local schools. Why do suburban school systems have such high property taxes? It is simple, the current school funding formula in the state of Illinois shifts dollars away from the suburbs and funnels them to the Chicago Public School system.

Studies have shown that suburban homeowners pay significantly higher property taxes than Chicago homeowners for houses of comparable value. As we have seen with past reform proposals, the latest formula outlined in SB231 takes state dollars away from suburban schools and redirects funding to Chicago schools. Current data shows that the Chicago Public Schools stand to benefit a total of $750 million from this proposal. Why are we subsidizing the third largest city in the country?

State Sen. Pam Althoff said, "It is widely agreed upon that Illinois must reform the way it funds K-12 education. However, doing so should not create a system where school districts that largely rely on local property tax bases are forced to increase existing dependence - especially those already spending below the statewide average per student. The average spending per pupil for school districts in the 32nd Senate District is $12,150, which is nearly $400 below the statewide average and $3,000 below what Chicago spends per student."

In my hometown of Wauconda, our local public school district spends $11,069 per student; Chicago spends 36 percent more per pupil than we do. Why should we receive less state funding and Chicago receives more?

The governor's budget has proposed ending proration and funding K-12 at the full General State Aid level of $6,119 per pupil for the first time in seven years. That means no more subsidies for Chicago. That means our property taxes pay for our schools.

The governor has also proposed increasing early childhood funding by $75 million, an increase of almost 25 percent, for a total of $393 million, the most in state history for early childhood education, with the rationale being to set a stronger foundation from the start.

We need reform. We need to provide relief from state mandates for school districts, to fully fund schools and to increase local control. We need a new way to fund our schools that works.

Frank A. Bart is mayor of Wauconda.