State Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook) voted Wednesday night to bail out Chicago Public Schools (CPS), shifting state school funding from suburban districts.
Senate Bill 1, which passed 60-52 on partisan lines, would send at least $400 million more per year to CPS and take responsibility for funding its insolvent teachers' pension fund.
That fund, as reported by Chicago City Wire last week, is nearly $10 billion in the hole and is expected to run dry early next decade.
State Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook) voted Wednesday night to bail out Chicago Public Schools.
Most Senate and House members voted on the funding distribution measure without knowing how their local school districts would be impacted.
By design, the bill's backers purposely avoided producing a district-by-district analysis ahead of the votes, for fear of losing support from legislators whose schools stood to lose out.
But context clues-- including the strong backing of pro-CPS legislators and lobbyists-- served as plenty of warning for most of them.
The last complete analysis of Senate Bill 1, produced last summer, showed all 39 of north Cook County school districts losing significant state funding.
Communities represented by Nekritz include West Northbrook, Northwest Arlington Heights, South Buffalo Grove, Northeast Mount Prospect, East Prospect Heights, Northeast Palatine and North Des Plaines.
The analysis said the school districts serving them will lose a combined $63.3 million in annual state funding if Senate Bill 1 became law.
According to the analysis, losing school districts include Palatine 15 (loses $11.5 million), CCSD 59 (loses $8.5 million), Township High School District 211 (loses $7.8 million), Wheeling Community Consolidated School District 21 (loses $7.4 million), Township High School District 214 (loses $7.1 million), Des Plaines Community Consolidated School District 62 (loses $6.3 million) and East Maine 63 (loses $5.5 million).
Winning school districts include Northbrook 28 ($1.2 million), Northbrook 27 ($894,213) and Northbrook/Glenview 30 ($827,444).
To avoid local school cuts, communities would have to raise property taxes to replace those state dollars.
Bill supporters insisted that the bill analysis was incorrect because they had subsequently added a "hold harmless" provision, which would, at least temporarily, minimize the dramatic cuts to suburban districts.
But that provision also assumed-- and required-- a massive increase in state funding to schools, which is next to impossible given the state's precarious financial situation.
Critics described the concept as spurious.
"(Senate Bill 1) is a disaster and moreover, it is deceptive," said State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton).
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Is your school district a winner or a loser?
State Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-Northbrook) voted Wednesday for a measure that would redistribute the state's school funding dollars, shifting money from suburban districts to Chicago.
How would schools in her district-- which includes West Northbrook, Northwest Arlington Heights, South Buffalo Grove, Northeast Mount Prospect, East Prospect Heights, Northeast Palatine and North Des Plaines-- fare?
| State Funding | |||
| District | Current | Proposed | Difference |
| Northbrook 28 | $885,839 | $269,990 | $1,155,829 |
| Northbrook 27 | $705,256 | $188,957 | $894,213 |
| Northrbook/Glenview 30 | $637,990 | $189,454 | $827,444 |
| West Northfield 31 | $679,767 | $154,567 | -$525,200 |
| Northfield Township HSD 225 | $2,607,786 | $830,224 | -$1,777,562 |
| Arlington Heights 25 | $4,322,804 | $915,788 | -$3,407,016 |
| CCSD 59 | $9,849,807 | $1,379,656 | -$8,470,151 |
| Township HSD 214 | $9,237,234 | $2,113,755 | -$7,123,479 |
| Wheeling CCSD 21 | $10,391,842 | $3,016,756 | -$7,375,086 |
| Aptakisic-Tripp 102 (Buffalo Grove) | $1,503,875 | $335,769 | -$1,168,106 |
| Kildeer Countryside 96 | $2,174,575 | $506,681 | -$1,667,894 |
| River Trails 26 (Mt. Prospect) | $1,369,523 | $261,308 | -$1,108,215 |
| Prospect Heights 23 | $1,466,052 | $265,206 | -$1,200,846 |
| Mount Prospect 57 | $1,616,639 | $342,887 | -$1,273,752 |
| Palatine 15 | $13,761,281 | $2,285,188 | -$11,476,093 |
| Township HSD 211 | $9,995,332 | $2,165,290 | -$7,830,042 |
| Des Plaines CCSD 62 | $7,325,935 | $1,009,807 | -$6,316,128 |
| East Maine 63 | $6,217,595 | $757,441 | -$5,460,154 |
| TOTAL | $84,749,132 | $16,988,724 | -$63,302,238 |
Source: Illinois State Board of Education
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