The Illinois School Funding Reform Commission created by Gov. Rauner to recommend a comprehensive solution to reform the school funding formula, met for the second time on Aug. 16.
During the meeting, Richard Laine from the National Governors Association spoke on the relationship between school funding and workforce readiness. Laine stressed that the challenge isn’t just funding schools, but creating an educational system that prepares students to enter the workforce. He also emphasized that training the US workforce to be competitive in a global economy is becoming increasingly important.
The Commission also reviewed the “evidence-based” approach to funding education. This model draws from research and evidence-based best practices to help identify how much money per pupil is needed to educate students in Illinois according to its proficiency standards.
Chaired by Secretary of Education Beth Purvis, the 25-member Commission includes five designees from Gov. Rauner’s Administration and five designees from each of the four legislative caucuses.
The Commission’s report is to be presented to the Governor and General Assembly by Feb. 1, 2017. Lawmakers say the goal is to have the General Assembly take action on a proposal in 2017.