Bottomline Upfront—Below is a fairly detailed explanation of the lies that were told 7 years ago about the EBF model to fund schools. It is important because CTU showed up in Springfield this week asking for $1 billion from state taxpayers when 7 years ago, they got everything they wanted and more. They are fraudsters and Liars. In fact, the entire public education industrial complex is one giant scam in this state.
The Cicada bugs are here. They showed up this week crawling out of the ground, climbing up trees, and sucking the sap after their 13 or 17-year slumber. This one is in my backyard, but I have no idea what brood the bugger is from. Cicadas are known to be loud, but it’s unlikely they can match the cacophony of another bug that showed up in Springfield this week to suck the sap from taxpayers – the Chicago Teachers Union.
Other bugs have emerged, too.
These buggers put on their red t-shirts (because nothing says I’m a respectable professional like a red t-shirt when you go to ask for money), boarded a bus, and got a paid excused absence from work to make the annual trek to Springfield and remind Democrats who butters their campaign fund.
The picture above is from the CTU Facebook page. Notice that their posters say, “Fully Fund EBF.” EBF stands for the Evidence-Based Formula, which was adopted in 2017 to fund schools.
The Illinois State Board of Education explains it this way: “The EBF formula defines an adequate funding target for each school district, based on enrollment numbers and the cost of 34 factors proven to deliver the greatest positive impact to students. The formula compares each district’s current resources to its unique adequacy target. Increases in state education appropriations go to the most under-resourced districts.”
EBF is the brainchild of a couple of professors, and research showed that, at the time Illinois was considering the EBF model, it had failed to deliver results everywhere it had been tried.
After seven years of EBF in Illinois, the formula has failed students and taxpayers as well. There has been no universal improvement in test scores in Illinois, and likely only a few school districts can show that their individual district had any improvement. The entire idea is a scam of the highest order and a big fat lie.
Fox 32 reported that “A contingent of Chicago Teachers Union members took a paid day off today, traveling from Chicago to Springfield to ask for the entire $1 billion, saying the state has underfunded CPS for years.”
“We demand because it was promised, and our kids deserve it. We have to fund our schools, fully fund them with everything that we can,” said Carrene Beverly-Bass, CPS teacher.”
And demand they did – back in 2017 when the new formula was voted on and passed. Back then, CPS had NO complaints. Mayor Rahm Emanuel said they got everything they wanted “AND MORE.” School Board President at that time, Frank Clark said CPS got $150 million more than they expected. Everybody was happy.
Because of the lies they want to tell now, 7 years laters, here’s a reminder of some of the issues I raised with the EBF in 2017 pertaining just to Chicago.
The Bill Bails Out Chicago Public Schools
The formula requires $350 million more EACH year to work as planned. The advocates plan to spend up to $6 billion more in the next 10 years on this one grant line, double the amount we spent last year.
– CPS keeps a $250 million block grant – a grant no other district receives.
State taxpayers will pay Chicago Teacher Pension normal cost – the first-year amount is $221million.This amount will increase each year for the foreseeable future and is determined by their local pension fund – not the state. Chicago teachers only pay 2% of their salary toward their multi-million dollar pensions.
– State taxpayers will forever pay for CPS legacy pension costs. This is the most problematic provision outside of the junk science behind the evidence-based formula itself. Chicago Teachers Pension Fund has defunded the account with the help of state legislators for the last 17 years. In 2000 the fund was nearly 100% funded, now it is 52% fundedFor the last 17 years, it has never paid the full actuarial amount needed, and in 13 of the last 17 years, it paid in almost nothing toward pensions. Last year, it lost $28 million in investments alone; it had investment expenses of $35.8 million and made only $7.8 million.
– The bill allows Chicago to appear less wealthy because it can deduct legacy pension costs from its local wealth calculation, which means it is eligible for greater state support. By simply adjusting its actuarial assumptions, Chicago can continue to game the formula to remain in the neediest tier of schools.
– The legacy pension cost this year for Chicago is $505 million – that translates into a $40 million additional state payment via the formula
That was from 2017 – now we can evaluate much of the program 7 years later.
FLASHBACK: MY analysis on EBF at the time it passed: https://www.breakthrough-ideas.com/read/2024/05/19/flashback-ebf-analysis-from-2017-fact-check-for-ctu-and-the-educational-industrial-complex-in-illinois
Here are some of the lies.
Lie Number 1 – The State isn’t funding schools enough.
Just a few months after the EBF model was passed, ISBE put out a press release saying:
“The EBF formula requires an additional $7.2 billion investment to provide adequate funding for every school district in the state.”
That means $7.2 billion from its base funding. The formula was to add $350 million every year in additional funding. Except for FY 2021, the state added that $350 million. And then every school district in 2020 (FY2021) got thousands and/or millions more in COVID money from the federal government.
If fully funding the model meant adding $7.2 billion from the base, then that should have been achieved in the first seven years of funding.
Looking at state budget summaries to calculate the amount of increased spending, the numbers don’t add up to $8.4 billion, but spending is still up nearly $6 billion from the base. In FY 2017, the state spent 11.648 billion on elementary and secondary education. In the FY2024 budget, the state spent $17.244 billion. The difference is $5.596 billion.
The numbers don’t add up between the budget and the formula that was to be funded, but regardless, nearly $6 billion more has been spent in 7 years on elementary and secondary education. Someone should ask for a full audit
Lie Number 2 – The Spending Has Made a Difference in Outcomes.
Not true. IN 2017, 17 school districts sued the state over inequitable funding. Of those 17 schools, all have received substantial amounts of new money from the state and spend thousands more per student under the new formula. It has made no difference in test scores. I checked every school, and only one school showed marginal improvement in test scores, and that was an elementary district. Of the 17 school districts, 15 had high schools, and in all cases, the percentage of students that were college-ready went down despite the large increases in funding.
Just to add an exclamation point to the lack of progress, I want to point out one of the school districts that sued the school over funding in 2017 because the Superintendent, Jennifer Garrison, from Vandalia CUSD 203 was particularly strident in wanting new money. She presented multiple times in committee about the value of the formula.
In 2017, Vandalia CUSD 203 spent $9,677 per student. 18% were at grade level on the PARCC test, and 33% were college-ready. Today, in 2024, the Illinois State Board of Education website shows they spend over $13,000 per student. Proficiency on the IAR (replaced PARCC test for younger students) is 35% in English Language Arts and 21% in Math – much improvement. But, SAT proficiency is 12% ELA and 8% in Math – a huge decline
CTU’s Big Lie: They need more money to do their job.
They spend over $30,000 per student, and less than a third of the students are proficient at grade level. And now they want even more. It is personally offensive to see them come back to the table for more after their leaders said seven years ago that they got everything they wanted and more.
More Nonsense
The public education complex has a stranglehold on legislators in both parties. It isn’t just spending, it is other nonsense ideas and unfunded mandates by legislators who have nothing better to do than meddle in areas that should be up to local school districts.
This week alone, here are some education bills that have now passed both chambers and will head to the Governor’s desk. It is doubtful that any of these will improve student outcomes. They are just B.S. piled high and deep.
SB 2872: Allows school districts to contract with outside entities to provide “relaxation” programs for schoolchildren.
HB 4652: Allows for a student teaching stipend of $10,000 for the student and $2,000 for the cooperating teacher. The teacher’s money is pensionable and doesn’t count against a 6% cap for a pay increase in the last four years, which is standard in the education field. This is done to spike pensions just before retirement.
HB 1375: Mandates financial literacy programs in high school. Another unfunded mandate that schools can decide if they want or not already.
HB 4219: Requires instruction on the dangers of fentanyl beginning in Grade 6. The irony is that the bill sponsor in the House was Janet Yang Rohr from Naperville, who voted to decriminalize possession of enough fentanyl to kill 1,500 people just two years ago!
HB 4417: Brought to you by your union friends, requires public high schools to annually observe AN ENTIRE WEEK known as “Workplace Readiness Week,” where students are given information about their rights as workers. Need to start those activists off early and have them go into their work environment with a skeptical eye towards management and their boss.
It would be better to call this Union Propaganda Week. Read more at this Center Square article
| To reiterate – EBF is a failure. More money has not led to better schools. Even as the state has poured more into education, local school districts have continued to increase their property tax levies at the same time. The scams will continue until the people who vote for these policies are voted out of office. Just to put an exclamation point on the CTU’s visit, here’s what the Center Square reported: |
CTU has a $50 billion list of demands for a new multi-year contract with CPS. If the union gets the contract it wants, the average teacher’s salary will jump to nearly $145,000 in the 2027-2028 school year, according to the Illinois Policy Institute. Rezin said the union is asking for a 9% increase every year.
Throughout the day, groups of CTU members were scattered throughout the Capitol, looking for lawmakers to demand more state taxpayer funding. Multiple members had printouts of lawmakers’ faces and names.