PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO READ "WHAT YOU CAN DO SECTION" Request to all parents who have children attending school in Illinois to sign this petition. In addition to signing this petition please contact your state representative personally through phone call/email to express your view and ask them to Vote "NO/NAY". Please forward this petition to all your friends. After collecting sufficient signatures we can forward this petition to the state representatives as well to demonstrate the unified voice of the parents

What is Senate Bill 16?

Last July, the Illinois Senate Education Funding Advisory Committee was tasked with recommending ways to improve public education funding in Illinois, which has remained unchanged since 1997.If enacted into law, Senate Bill 16 (SB16) will make sweeping changes in how the state funds education and those changes will have a negative impact on Students and Parents.

The state's current system has multiple funding sources, each with separate rules and regulations. The committee recommended that 96 percent of state education dollars be combined under one funding formula, with the exception of funds for early childhood education, capital projects and special education. The recommendation of creating one funding formula is aimed at providing greater equity among districts throughout the state.

SB16 does not increase the level of education funding, but changes the way in which limited state funding is distributed to school districts. Generally, school districts with higher assessed property values will receive much less state funding. Other districts will receive much more in state funding. As written, SB16 provides a special cost benefit to Chicago Public Schools. Under SB16, the state will now assume teacher pension costs for Chicago Public Schools, which represents a substantial cost savings for the district.

SB16 also does not address the issue of the state not being able to meet its current obligations to fund education. For the past three years, the state has underfunded all school districts by 11 percent.


What can you do?

SB16 has already passed the Senate.

It is expected that SB16 will be discussed and possibly voted on by the House this fall. This is where we need your help. We are asking parents to contact your Illinois Representative and ask them to vote no on SB16.