Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and PEER-IL Partners Demand Long-Promised Increase in Funding for Public Schools
On Tuesday, September 27, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, along with its partner organizations in PEER-IL, held a news conference in Riverdale, Illinois, demanding that Illinois legislators add more money to fund the Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act (EBF) formula, a 2017 law designed to ensure that all children have access to fully resourced and funded public schools. PEER-IL is a state-wide education justice coalition made up of grassroots organizations, lawyers, and researchers from across the state.
Currently, full funding of the EBF would require an additional 7.2-billion-dollar investment from the state. At current rates of investment, this target will not be reached until 2054, meaning nearly two generations of public-school children likely never receive an adequate education, much less a quality future. When the law first passed, EBF promised equitable funding to ensure fully resourced public schools for all Illinois students by 2027. Over 83% of Illinois’s districts are now underfunded—making the state 45th out of 50 for equitable school funding.
Beatriz Diaz-Pollack, Senior Counsel at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee said that “Passage of the EBF represented progress towards more just funding of Illinois public schools and promised all Illinois students an adequately resourced education.” She added, “However, from the outset, by increasing education funding at little more than the minimum level year over year, the state has failed, and continues to fail, to deliver on this promise to Illinois students.” She urged all community members to get involved by joining PEER-IL, learning about the status of school funding in their districts, and demanding better for our students.
PEER-IL also launched its comprehensive website that parents, families, and interested community members can access to learn about the funding shortages in their school district. PEER IL has already trained hundreds of parents and other stakeholders across the state on the current state of school funding in Illinois and surveyed nearly a thousand Illinoisans around their vision and priorities for public schools. Over this next year the coalition will host town halls across the state and provide training to families on how to advocate to their legislators for more funding. To stay informed informed and join the work of the coalition, please connect with them at bit.ly/PEERaction.
The PEER-IL coalition includes Raise Your Hand, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Chicago Lawyers Committee, IL Families for Public Schools, Palenque LSNA, HACES - Hispanic American Community Education and Service, Chicago United for Equity, Poor People’s Project, The ACE Project, The Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy at UIC and Peoria Friendship House. PEER Illinois is part of a national network of state and territory focused coalitions fighting for education equity, an end to the ongoing divestment of public education and racially-just public schools. PEER partners are in: IL, NC, VA, MI, NM, MD, TN, PA, GA and PR.