U.S. Rep. Bob Dold (R-Dist. 10) is stepping up to protect low-income school districts from taxes imposed on federal funding by introducing the Stand Up for Students Act, which would prevent Illinois from taxing federal Title I funds intended to hire teachers for low-income school districts.

“Under no circumstances should Springfield politicians be allowed to use federal money intended to help our most in-need students to bail themselves out of the mess they created through decades of irresponsible spending,” Dold said. “The Stand Up for Students Act will ensure that we are giving our most vulnerable children the best chance to succeed by stopping this immoral tax on the students who need our help the most."

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The federal government provides Title I funding to hire teachers. The state of Illinois then assesses additional pension funds for the Teachers Retirement Program (TRS) because the teachers are paid through the federal funds. 

A school district that uses local funding pays 0.58 percent of a teacher's salary into the pension fund. If a school district uses Title I funding to pay a teacher's salary, the district pays a "federal funds rate" of 36.06 percent of the teacher's salary into TRS. The additional pension payments do not benefit the teachers; they are used to pay down pension debt due to years of mismanagement.

By preventing Illinois from charging school districts for Title I funding, a $59 million-per-year savings, low-income school districts could hire more teachers to reduce the student-to-teacher ratio in classrooms and fund additional educational programs and services.