What is Senate Bill 16?

Last July, a committee of state legislators was charged with recommending ways to improve public education funding in Illinois, which has remained unchanged since 1997. The result of the task force was the creation of Senate Bill 16 (SB16).

If enacted into law, SB16 will make sweeping changes in how the state funds education and those changes will have a direct and negative impact on Oak Lawn Community High School. SB16 changes the way in which limited state funding is distributed among school districts. The current funding formula provides state funds based on the characteristics of students, including the number of English language learners, special education students, and low-income students. The new formula no longer adequately supports the needs of OLCHS students.

It is unclear when the House intends to act on this bill. State Representatives return to Springfield on November 19, 2014 for a Veto session and could act as early as this fall.

How will SB16 impact OLCHS?

The financial impact on our school is significant. If the bill becomes law in its current form, OLCHS would eventually lose almost $900,000 per year. This is a loss of 38 percent in state revenue. In order to balance our budget over the past few years, OLCHS has already significantly reduced student academic opportunities and extracurricular programs. A $900,000 revenue reduction would require OLCHS to continue to cut costs, and therefore additional loss of academic and extracurricular opportunities for students would result. We would need to consider increasing class sizes, additional reductions in student course enrollment access, as well as reducing or eliminating athletic teams and activity clubs.

What can you do?

We are asking all OLCHS stakeholders to contact your Illinois State Representative. Ask them to VOTE NO on SB16. The following state representatives currently serve OLCHS District 229:

• State Representative Kelly Burke (708-425-0571)
• State Representative Mary Flowers (773-471-5200)

If you are unsure of your State Representative, refer to the following website:

http://www.ieanea.org/legislative/contact-your-legislators/

Tell Your Representative...

• SB16 penalizes half of the school districts in the state for being in counties that limit annual property tax increases.
• SB16 does not take into account if a school district has been fiscally responsible and has already made funding cuts.
• SB16 does not provide for "minimum adequacy".
• SB16 will negatively impact English Language Learners.
• SB16 is strongly opposed by special needs advocacy groups that feel it will negatively impact special needs education.
• SB16 will result in some school districts taking disproportionate amounts of losses.
• SB16 may be modified to also include a shift in "pension costs" to local property taxpayers.

For more information, visit: http://www.edgeillinois.com.