Lawmakers convene bipartisan panel on school funding
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - The task force on education formed by Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan will begin holding hearings this week.
The panel will meet with Illinois educators at the Capitol on Tuesday to address the state's decades-old education formula that some lawmakers say unfairly penalizes students in poor districts.
House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie leads the panel.
Proposals by Senate President John Cullerton and Sen. Andy Manar seek to solve the funding disparity by creating a new school aid formula that would give more money to poor districts.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has said he will not support a plan that takes money from some districts to give to others.
In recent years Madigan has proposed an income tax on millionaires. He has said the additional money would go to schools.