Suburban, downstate Latino students benefit from amendatory veto of education bill

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s amendments to Senate Bill 1 bring nearly $54 million more to the 10 school districts with the highest Latino student enrollment outside Chicago.

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s amendatory veto of the state’s latest education funding proposal, Senate Bill 1, removed many of the unfair subsidies and carve-outs that have historically benefitted CPS at the expense of all other districts.

For too long, suburban and downstate districts have been forced to bail out Chicago’s mismanaged school district at the expense of their own students. By eliminating the Chicago-centric subsidies, the amendatory veto increases state funding for more than 97 percent of Illinois school districts. CPS will receive $242 million less under the amendatory veto of SB 1 compared with the original version of the bill, but still will receive $47 million more than in 2017.

There are approximately 520,000 Latino students in Illinois. More than 340,000 Latino students are enrolled in districts outside Chicago.

Now, those districts will receive millions in additional state dollars as a result of the amendatory veto.

The top 10 districts with the largest Latino enrollment outside Chicago will receive nearly $54 million in state funding compared with the original SB 1 passed by the General Assembly.

For example, the amendatory veto will send more than $6.5 million additional state dollars to Waukegan, which is home to more than 13,000 Latino students.

Elgin, Cicero and Aurora – all of which have districts with thousands of Latino students – will each receive millions of additional dollars.

In 2015, Waukegan spent $12,800 per student, according to the Illinois Report Card. Aurora East and West spent approximately $11,500 per student, while the districts in Cicero spent a little more than $10,000 per student. CPS spent nearly $15,400 per student in 2016.

Many opponents of the amendatory veto are positioning other school districts’ gains as a loss for CPS.

But the truth is, the amendatory veto simply restores much of the parity that’s been missing from the education funding formula. Districts across Illinois have lost out on state funds for more than 15 years thanks to subsidies that have long favored CPS.

By eliminating those subsidies, the governor’s version of SB 1 ensures that all districts – and all students – are treated more fairly.