Rep. Dave Severin (R-Benton) offered Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) officials help in reaching out to schools during a recent House Appropriations Elementary & Secondary Education Committee hearing.
After ISBE Chief Financial Officer Robert Wolfe spoke at length during the hearing about the data regarding SB444, a $350 million school funding bill vetoed by Gov. Bruce Rauner to fund 852 school districts, Severin shared his concern for ISBE working through numbers that are needed to move the amendatory veto on as soon as possible.
“My question is the 97 schools that you are having trouble with, can you disseminate that information to us so we can do some diligence with our districts that we represent so we can help you get that taken care of,” Severin asked Wolfe.
According to Wolfe, the school districts are presently “cleaning up numbers” for data analysis verification that will be compiled in a series of tests to identify the numbers of 97 school districts that may not have accurate figures. He said it is imperative the numbers are right, because those are the figures that go into the adequacy target calculations that reveal what schools are in most need of funding.
“We had 97 districts with data issues and we have been working collaboratively with those districts to work through this,” Wolfe said of the evidence-based funding formula design that determines a district's base funding for the 2018 fiscal year and becomes the minimum funding for the 2019 fiscal year.
“I have no reason to sit before you today to say that we have had problems with them,” Wolfe said. “Some of those districts have resolved some of the issues, whether it be adjustments to the numbers or confirmation that there was a plausible explanation with the variance.”
“I will take that long answer to say that you don’t need our assistance,” Severin said.
Wolfe declined the assistance offered by Severin, who said all that matters is moving forward.
“I am excited about being back here and getting some work done and getting this taken care of so we can get on with this model and can get some finances to the school districts,” Severin said.
Alerts Sign-up