SPRINGFIELD — If advocates, stakeholders and members of the public were granted all their requests for public school funding next year, lawmakers would have to increase the state’s K-12 education budget by nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars.

That’s the approximate total of all the requests that Illinois State Board of Education officials received online and in-person during a recent series of public hearings about a proposed budget for the next fiscal year.

The total is considerably smaller than last year’s requests, which added up to more than $2.2 billion in new funding. But it is still more than what is likely to be available, given that Gov. JB Pritzker is asking most state agencies to make plans for reducing spending by 4% in the current fiscal year in light of fiscal uncertainty at the federal level.

ISBE board members were briefed on the funding requests during their monthly meeting Thursday in Chicago.

Full EBF, categorial boost

The requests included continued funding of the statutory $350 million increase in the Evidence-Based Funding formula, or EBF. That’s a formula that lawmakers first approved in 2017 that directs new money to the most underfunded districts in the state. It also directs money for property tax relief for certain high-tax districts.

The EBF formula, however, does not include all areas of education spending. It focuses primarily on classroom expenses directly related to improving student outcomes, taking into account the special needs of certain groups such as low-income households and English language learners.

But schools also incur other costs, known as “mandated categorical programs,” that are not covered by the EBF formula. Those include costs associated with special education, transportation and school meals, to name a few, and they are typically shared on a prorated scale between the state and local districts.

The list of funding increases requested for next year included a $100 million increase in state funding for those costs.

Matthew Seaton, ISBE’s chief financial officer, said the requested increase in that category, sometimes referred to as MCATs, was the most frequently mentioned funding request that officials heard about this year.

“I think this is the first time, at least since I’ve been at the agency, that our most requested budget item was in the MCAT line item,” he said. “Usually, it’s EBF. Everybody wants EBF. So I think that’s very telling to where the field’s perception is of needs, that they’re really emphasizing mandated (categoricals) this year.”

New literacy plan, more

The request list also included $68.5 million for implementation of ISBE’s new literacy plan, a program the board approved in 2024 to improve literacy instruction throughout the state.

Other requests included an additional $30 million to hire more special education teachers to relieve staff shortages; a $30 million increase for multilingual education, and a $60 million increase in early childhood block grants.

The list of requests included 51 categories of school spending, with increases totaling $747.9 million.

Receiving public input for funding requests is one of the first steps in developing a budget proposal for the upcoming year. In December, the board will receive another briefing about the state’s financial condition from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, the fiscal staff of the General Assembly.

The board is expected to approve its official budget request at its Jan. 14 meeting in Springfield.

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