Learn about evidence-based school funding at Thursday forum

"Evidence-based Funding for Public Schools" will be the subject of a public forum, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Central Kane County, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20, at the Batavia Public Library, 10 S. Batavia Ave.

Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, will be the guest speaker.

The program is timely and important. Taxpayers, legislators, parents, and educators need to be well-informed about Evidence-Based School Funding, because it is expected to figure prominently in legislation considered by the General Assembly in the 2017 session.

It is well-documented that school funding in Illinois is extremely inequitable, with more resources available to districts collecting more money from property taxes. Most approaches to remedying this problem in the past have created new "winners and losers." In contrast, evidence-based funding considers the costs associated with research-supported best practices leading to student achievement. Changing the conversation to evidence-based funding would mean that districts would be provided with sufficient funding to address factors which are most strongly related to student performance such as class size, resources and teachers for students with individual needs, etc.

Visit www.lwvckc.org. Follow them on Facebook or Twitter.