Dupage Policy Journal

Illinois Education Secretary Beth Purvis recently announced that Gov. Bruce Rauner has proposed ending the practice of proration to fully fund the state's portion of public education, a move that Heidi Holan, Republican candidate for House District 46, supports.

“When discussing education funding, one must first remember the goal: Illinois needs to make available to every child a quality K-12 education at a fair price to the taxpayers,” Holan recently told DuPage Policy Journal. “Our current system allows children to be trapped in a failing school because of their address or family income level, and forces taxpayers to continue to fund those inferior schools — this is wrong.”

Holan explained that there are good models to use to make sure all children are getting fair educational advantages.

“A model of funding that allows parents to send their children to the school of their choice and state funding to follow the child would be a strong step toward attaining the goal of quality education at a fair price to the taxpayers,” she said. “Tuition vouchers, Education Savings Accounts and opportunity scholarships are all methods that should be considered.”

Holan also explained how underfunded mandates create more potential taxes from the community.

“State and federal mandates are a major challenge to our local schools as the mandates are frequently unfunded or fall short of the actual costs to meet the mandates,” Holan said. “Currently, all funding for schools that is not passed through the state must come from the local school community.”

Finding funding without using property taxes can pose to be problematic since the community pays for it one way or another, Holan argued.

“If state funding does not cover the expenses for a school district to meet all education mandates, the local community makes up the difference and frequently the method used is though property taxes,” she said. “The higher percentage a community must make up for unfunded mandates, the fewer funds they have available to provide services desired by those local taxpayers for their schools.”

Holan said she supports Rauner’s bill to prioritize education by fully funding public education.

“Passing a bill to fully fund the General State Aid foundation level for the next school year must occur with or without a modification to the funding formula so that all schools can open their doors this fall,” Holan said. “The proposal by Gov. Rauner will allow this to happen and passage of it will show that providing education is a priority for the state.”