Burke and Cunningham Act to Bring Millions of Dollars in New Funding to Local Public Schools

EVERGREEN PARK, Ill. – Local schools will receive $2.4 million in new funding under a plan supported by state Rep. Kelly Burke, D-Evergreen Park and state Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago.

“We all want what is best for our children and I fought to pass a fair education funding reform measure that ensures our students get the resources they deserve,” Burke said. “For too long, Illinois has lagged behind the rest of the country in providing all of our schools with fair funding. This new funding plan puts us on a path to giving our children the best education possible.”

Burke and Cunningham worked across party aisles with Democrats and Republicans to come up with a plan that fixes Illinois’ broken funding formula. This provides fair funding for schools statewide—without picking winners and losers—and secures an additional $2.4 million in new funding for local schools.

“The residents of our districts expect the legislature to put partisan differences aside and address big problems like adequately funding our schools,” Cunningham said. “We achieved that goal with legislation that ensure no district experiences cuts to state funding and legislation that recognizes we have to stop increasing the financial burden we place on property tax payers.”

“Illinois’ old funding reform was broken and hurt many of our students by shifting funds away from school districts that needed it the most,” said Kevin Russell, Superintendent of Chicago Ridge School District 127.5. “Throughout this process Representative Burke and Senator Cunningham have been accessible and worked to come up with a fair solution to fix our broken funding formula and hopefully provide our district with nearly $900,000 in new funding.”

“I appreciate Representative Burke and Senator Cunningham fighting to improve the lives of children not just in our district, but across Illinois,” said Mike Riordan, Superintendent of Oak Lawn Community High School District 229. “By fixing the formula, our state is no longer choosing winners and losers when it comes to school funding.”