What Madigan won’t tell you about education spending
When House Speaker Michael Madigan issued a press release about his new tax proposal yesterday – which levies a 3 percent surcharge on income over $1 million, which Madigan said will provide funding for schools – he highlighted the struggles of districts across the state to balance their books. Unfortunately, he neglected to mention these...
When House Speaker Michael Madigan issued a press release about his new tax proposal yesterday – which levies a 3 percent surcharge on income over $1 million, which Madigan said will provide funding for schools – he highlighted the struggles of districts across the state to balance their books.
Unfortunately, he neglected to mention these real facts about Illinois education spending:
- Other than in fiscal year 2009, when Illinois received more than $1 billion in K-12 federal stimulus funds, state spending on education has never been higher. State funding, which totaled $9.4 billion in fiscal year 2013, has grown 61 percent – in real terms – since 1993.
- Spending per student reached an all-time high of $11,842 in 2013 – a 13 percent increase – in real terms – since 1999.
- A large share of new education funding is going toward pay nonteaching salaries. From 1999-2009, public school staff grew at more than twice the rate of the state’s student population – 27.8 percent versus 14.3 percent. Teaching staff grew at 1.5 times the student population, and administrative and other nonteaching staff grew 2.5 times faster than the student population.
- The state’s lowest-performing schools have seen a real increase of 24 percent in funding over the last decade, but their performance has stagnated.
Madigan’s message is simple: more money for kids. It’s easy to sell and can be communicated in a single sound byte.
But simple messages are simple for a reason – they often hide the facts and the analysis that shows the complete picture.
In a state where politicians routinely mislead to get their way, Illinoisans deserve to know the whole story – not the one-sided version that is being sold to them to gain their support.
image credit: Chicago Tribune