- Published: Tuesday, September 20, 2022 02:12 PM
HIGHWOOD – State Senator Julie Morrison is announcing that school districts across Cook and Lake counties will receive nearly $25 million in funding to help address the financial challenges of recent years.
“When schools are adequately funded, students have better outcomes – from better test scores to increased graduation rates,” said Morrison (D-Lake Forest). “The additional funding allocated to schools across the area will provide more curriculum options, better facilities and other resources to help students learn and grow.”
The funding comes from the 2017 Illinois Senate Democrat-backed evidence based funding formula – an overhaul of the way the state funds K-12 education. The law made school funding more equitable by calculating the needs of individual school districts and basing its state revenue on those needs. The formula takes into account a district’s total enrollment, poverty rate, the number of special education or English language learners, among other factors.
Some local schools that are set to receive additional funding include:
- Wheeling School District 21: $13,432,736
- River Trails School District 26: #1,523,718
- Northbrook Elementary School 27: $791,396
- West Northfield School District 31: $808,369
- Lake Bluff Elementary School District: 65: $565,077
- Lake Forest School District 67: $1,014,839
- Bannockburn School District 106: $140,906
- Deerfield School District 109: $1,829,408
- North Shore School District 112: $3,373,338
- Township High School District 113: $1,854,468
- Lake Forest CUSD 115: $881,134
The Fiscal Year ‘23 budget invested an additional $350 million into student’s success through the evidence based funding model.
“Illinois is a stand-out state when it comes to the way we fund our schools,” said Morrison. “Evidence based funding ensures students are provided with quality education regardless of ZIP code.”
In total, schools in the area Morrison represents saw a total of $25 million in additional funding. For more information on the FY 23 evidence based funding distribution, people can visit isbe.net/Pages/EvidenceBasedFunding.
