What is Evidence-Based Funding?

Kids First Parents Advocate Alongside Funding Illinois’ Future Coalition

Advance Illinois, a statewide education advocacy organization, is leading a campaign–Funding Illinois’ Future–of statewide organizations to advocate for increased EBF funding. Kids First’s parent-led Equitable Funding Task Force and the Funding Illinois’ Future Coalition are working collaboratively to fully fund all Illinois districts.

On May 1, 2024, over 150 advocates–including 40 K1C students and family members–went to Springfield to urge lawmakers to make good on their promises to Illinois’ kids. Families had the opportunity to express directly to legislators why fully funding Illinois schools would make a tremendous difference in their lives.

The day culminated in a powerful rally. Jacqueline Vargas, a longtime parent advocate with K1C, addressed the crowd in Spanish. Her speech was incredibly moving and a testament to the power of bilingual advocacy, where communities of differing languages, races, and neighborhoods can come together to support their kids’ needs.

Unfortunately, Springfield passed only $350M in funding for schools in 2024–the minimum contribution required. Kids First’s parent-led EBF Task Force is redoubling our efforts, launching a parent-to-parent EBF educational campaign to amplify parents voices in Springfield and get the message across: Chicago educators and students need fully funded schools for a quality education.

Advocate With Us

A consensus emerged quickly in Kids First’s parent-led Evidence-Based Funding Task Force. Parents want to build a powerful community of families knowledgeable about EBF and wider funding decision-making to advocate for fully funded schools in Chicago.

Starting in September, parents plan to meet with other CPS families in school, community, and neighborhood settings. They will discuss how CPS schools are currently funded, where the gaps are to reach adequate funding levels, what the state’s commitments have been–and where the state is falling short of its pledges.

Throughout the spring, legislators negotiate Illinois’ budget. We plan to be ready in spring 2025 to meet with legislators and bring them onboard to support Illinois’ commitment to fully fund our schools.

Evidence-Based Funding: What You Need to Know

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More Background on Evidence-Based Funding

On August 31, 2017, Illinois replaced one of the most inequitable K-12 public education funding formulas in the country with the “Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act,” or “EBF.” The primary goal of EBF is to ensure that the state's K-12 funding is distributed more equitably and fairly across school districts.

The EBF formula starts by figuring out how much money is needed for the basic things every district needs, like school staff and up-to-date materials. Then, additional funding goes to districts that serve a higher number of students with greater needs, such as special education students, English Language Learners (ELLs), and low-income students.

The amount of state funding that goes toward EBF is determined annually by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), the Governor, and the Illinois General Assembly.

When Illinois created EBF, the State promised that all school districts would be fully funded by 2027. The formula has improved funding at CPS since 2017, but the annual amount of additional funding for EBF needs to be substantially increased if Springfield intends to keep its promise. According to the Center on Tax and Budget Accountability, it could take until fiscal year 2038 before the formula is fully funded if Springfield continues to contribute the minimum funding amount of $350M each year.

What’s the impact of Evidence-Based Funding on Illinois Districts?

Since EBF came into existence, CPS has received nearly $300 million in additional state funding. CPS is still $1.4 billion away from being fully and adequately funded.

This additional state funding could provide over $4,300 in NEW per-student funding. For CPS this would mean each student gets nearly double the funding they receive currently.

Districts have used this additional new funding in many different ways including increasing support and programming for students, dual language programs, smaller class sizes and more teachers in classrooms, more full-time positions, supplementing budgets and supplies and improving accessibility needs.