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URL – www.sos-cps.comrnrnttk 6/13/2016: I’d like to set this to rejected b/c it’s very much overly politicized for Upworthy’s usual standards.rnrnTL;DR: The Illinois school system argument is extremely complicated, and this video presents only the Chicago viewpoint of the situation. The system *is* totally broken, but this is not an even-keeled presentation of the facts.rnrnI didn’t yet dive into each allegation of the video, but even just in overview, there’s a thematic flaw here in how the details are delivered. The “$500 million” that’s being cut isn’t exactly being “cut.” It’s from a special fund that for a long time was meant for Illinois’ poorest school districts — almost all of which are in Chicago and Cook County. All the rest of Illinois receives <5% the $500M fund. So the state is proposing tweaking this formula — since it is state money — to benefit students in more regions of the state than just Chicago. rnrnWhile it “cuts” this from the Chicago budget, in practice the fund is already “cutting” funds from all the rest of the state’s other poor school districts. rnrnThe argument that Chicago is bringing in 20% of the education revenue but receiving only 15% is extremely also much more complicated and twisty than portrayed in this video. There’s the consideration of the wealth of individual school districts as dictated by population and local economy plus tax increment financing districts (TIFs) which are just a nightmare in the way it lets school districts put a limit on how much they have to report their local property values are worth (resulting in property tax caps for the wealthiest districts). There are plusses and minuses to TIFs that are in themselves complicated. Without favoring either side, this video just doesn’t go there, but it’s a big part of the conversation. rnrnRegardless, this video only shows the effect on Chicago students and not the larger problem. There are many ways to explore the problem more fairly than this.rnrnBackground sources:rnhttps://www.illinoispolicy.org/reports/understanding-illinois-broken-education-funding-system/rnhttps://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/politics/ct-school-funding-state-budget-impasse-met-20160407-story.htmlrnhttps://www.reuters.com/article/us-illinois-education-idUSKCN0YI2KRrnhttps://illinoisreportcard.com/District.aspx?source=Environment&source2=PerStudentSpending&Districtid=15016299025rnrnrnFacts alleged in video:rn— Springfield has cut $500M from the Chicago Public Schools budget.rnrn— The state funding is $1 per student for the state but in Chicago, it’s 74 cents per student.rnrn— Chicago provides 20% of the state’s education revenue.rnrn— Chicago only gets 15% of state education funding.rnrn— Attendance and graduation rates have risen in Chicago schools. Chicago students are scoring better on standardized tests and more are enrolled in college.
Source:
SOSCPS
Contact name:
Dana Cook
Contact email:
dana.michelle.cook@gmail.com
