Rauner school-funding plan stiffs Chicago

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Illinois needs a strong and healthy Chicago, the engine of the state, and the city needs a willing partner in Gov. Bruce Rauner to make that happen.

But once again, Rauner is letting Chicago down.

Just as sadly, the governor is letting down every kid living in poverty in Illinois, from the Wisconsin border to Cairo, who attends an underfunded, second-rate public school in a property-tax-poor school district.

Those kids deserve a better shake.

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On Tuesday, Rauner proposed a $55 million increase in overall state funding for schools in Illinois, which sounds positively generous, but don’t be fooled. The governor proposed doing absolutely nothing — not at this time — to fix a state school funding formula that fails to direct limited revenue toward the schools that need it most.

As a result, some of those extra bucks Rauner is dangling would go to wealthy school districts that don’t need another dime of your state tax dollars — the governor’s alma mater of New Trier, for one — while poorer districts would get a fraction of the extra money they desperately need.

Rauner has said, rather tepidly, that he agrees the current school aid formula is “broken” and should be reworked. But forgive us if we doubt his commitment. There is nothing that stops the governor from getting behind this reform right now, during the spring legislative session, in the same aggressive way he has championed, say, sticking it to public employee unions.

Under Rauner’s proposal, state funding to Chicago’s public schools would be reduced by $74 million, which the governor insists is not so bad. Without his proposed increase in state education spending overall, he argues, the Chicago Public Schools’ share of state funding would be cut by $189 million because CPS is teaching fewer students, including fewer poor children, and the district enjoys a relatively high property tax base.

This is disingenuous. The governor essentially is arguing that, yeah, Chicago is getting short-changed, as it has for years, but he’s short-changing the city a little less — so be happy.

The obvious better alternative is to overhaul the state school aid formula immediately, before increasing funding overall. The current formula stiffs Chicago by failing to factor in the higher costs of teaching large concentrations of low-income children and other kids with special needs.

Illinois arguably has the most inequitable funding system in the nation. Poorer districts spend as little as $6,000 per student while wealthier districts spend up to $30,000 per student.

We support a bill introduced in Springfield last week by Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, that attempts to shift state education dollars toward the neediest school districts while minimizing the loss of revenue to middle-tier school districts. The shifts in funding would be phased in over four years, ideally to give the governor and Legislature time to increase overall funding to avoid the problem of losers.

Chicago would see a net funding increase of $100 million, even after the elimination of special block grants to the city. The state also would pick up $200 million in annual pension costs for CPS, as it already does for all other Illinois school districts.

Gov. Rauner did not create the current inequitable school aid formula. The Democrats, as he likes to point out, did that. And he’s right that the Democrats have funded the formula at only 92 percent of what’s called the “foundation level” — the minimum per-pupil amount of $6,119 set by state law. By kicking in that extra $55 million, the governor would bring state funding to 100 percent of the foundation level.

It is also true that while Senate President John Cullerton strongly supports Manar’s bill, House Speaker Michael J. Madigan has yet to take a firm stand. Rauner, who was blasted by Madigan on the House floor Wednesday, is hardly alone in his intransigence.

But since the day he was elected governor, Rauner has been going hard at Chicago, soon to the point of no return for the city. He has pursued a legislative agenda doomed to go nowhere in a Democratic General Assembly, demonized opponents and tossed verbal bombs at the worst possible times. He did Chicago’s schools no favor when — twice — he talked up the possibility of bankruptcy for CPS even as school officials were attempting to negotiate Wall Street loans at a reasonable rate.

Rauner’s move on Wednesday was more of the same. He says he’s there for Chicago, but he’s doing the city no favors at all.

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