By Cynthia Grau
PONTIAC – State Sen. Jason Barickman spent Tuesday pushing a fair school funding formula during a visit to Pontiac.
Barickman (R-Bloomington) stopped by Pontiac Junior High School to discuss the two proposals on the table at the moment.
“I think the public wants a fair school funding formula that’s good for every school, and our proposal is that – it’s good for Chicago, suburban and downstate schools. It treats them all in a fair and equitable manner,” Barickman said. “Senate Bill 1, though it embraces the same formula as we do, it creates these special provisions for Chicago and effectively places the interests of Chicago ahead of everyone else. It asks taxpayers to pay for all that and is punitive towards school children who may go to a school district that is in more need of financial help than even Chicago, and we have those. We have school districts that are 100 percent poverty. Chicago’s not. They have high poverty, but they’re not 100 percent.”
Barickman said downstate districts have different issues than Chicago.
“We have school districts who have very little local property tax wealth that they can use for their classrooms. Chicago has actually a different scenario,” Barickman explained. “So, it’s not to say the Republican plan isn’t going to help Chicago, it’s just we’re going to help them in the manner that we help everyone else, but similarly situated and we’re going to do so in a way that’s fair and transparent to taxpayers.”
Cynthia Grau can be reached at [email protected].
