Local schools begin receiving payments under new state formula

The new funding formula looks at the amount of money the district would need to adequately educate a child to reach his or her potential, and the amount the school actually is able to spend. For example, if educating a child to reach her potential would cost $4,000, but the district only has $2,000 to spend per child, the district is funded at 50 percent of adequacy.

Terry Ryker, superintendent of Herrin Community Unit School District 4, said adequacy percentage takes into consideration 26 different factors, like professional development, class size, curriculum, percentage of low income students, and more.

“The goal is to help districts that need it the most,” he said.

Ryker used curriculum as an example. The district hasn’t spent money on curriculum since 2010 or before.

“What we are teaching has changed a little bit because of the state standards, but we didn’t have money to get resources. We went online and got free resources wherever we could,” Ryker said. “Our teachers have gone above and beyond what they should have to do.”

After the adequacy percentage is figured, districts statewide were put on a tier to receive funding to help them meet their adequacy targets, with tier 1 schools receiving a great portion of funding. Most schools in Southern Illinois were tier 1, funded at 64 percent or less of adequacy.

Let’s take a closer look at a few tier 1 districts.

Du Quoin CUSD 300

Enrollment: 1,520

Du Quoin will received $694,580.48 in new funding with an adequacy score of 55 percent through the evidence-based funding model. That will be divided over the next six payments, which will finish the school year.

“We have been pro-rated for the past nine years, so there is some catch-up with the funding. We are going to be working on a plan to utilize those dollars for the next school year based on what the district needs to help kids,” Superintendent Gary Kelly said.

The preliminary discussions have been around adding staff positions that have been lost during the budget crisis. Kelly said no one was laid off, but positions have not been filled as people have retired.

“We want the additional funding to have biggest impact for improving achievement for kids, as it was intended,” Kelly said.

Herrin CUSD 4

Enrollment: 719

Herrin School District received an adequacy percentage of 55 percent and will receive an additional $1,263,206.15 by the end of the fiscal year on June 30. That amount will be split into six payments.

Ryker said the first thing the district will do is pay off debt incurred during the two years Illinois did not have a state budget. District administration, staff and faculty are working on a plan beyond that.

“I had meetings with each of four schools with entire faculty and staff, and the leadership teams to figure out what we need,” Ryker said

They are looking at several things, such as reducing class sizes in kindergarten through second grades, adding social workers in elementary schools, adding positions cut over last several years such as two school resource officers, spending money on technology, and adding money for teachers to buy supplies and attend professional development workshops.

“All those things are open and we will be discussing them at our next board meeting,” Ryker said. “Our district seems to be getting the most, but that’s because we were hurting the most.”

Enrollment: 1,118

Johnston City, with an adequacy percentage of 56, will receive $499,158.55.

“It will allow us to add back positions that were cut years ago when we had to make cuts to the bare bones, but we are not just adding those things blindly,” Superintendent Kathy Clark said.

She is meeting with administrative team, school board, faculty and staff and looking at research before replacing those things. Clark, much like her colleagues around Southern Illinois, wants to use the funds to impact her students.

“We are looking at things that will directly impact student academic growth,” Clark said.

Because the district began talking about what things they needed before the funding became available, they were able to increase the after-school tutoring program this week. Clark said it has been well-received.

The program was limited to a few students because of lack funding.

Some of the items being discussed include tutoring before and after school, and adding positions that include instructional coaches, social workers, teachers for music and art instruction, elementary physical education teachers, and Title 1 match and reading aides.

“We want to add positions that are going to help students learn and help students grow academically,” Clark said. “For us, it’s an awesome responsibility to have, but we are looking forward to the challenge.”

Vienna High School District

Enrollment: 357

“With an adequacy percentage of 52, Vienna, along with nine other schools, is the fifth most inadequately funded school of the 850 or so in the state,” Stafford said.

The district will receive $239,867.52, split into six payments.

Stafford said schools all over the state have experience the pro-rating of state funding since 2009. As a result, Vienna High School has taken an $800,000 reduction. When Vienna Grade Schools are added, the shortage is around $3 million.

“We have taken a lot of drastic steps for compensate for that $3 million,” Stafford said.

He added that new tier money — new money from any source — is great news, but it does not make up the deficit.

“Moving forward, due to the many years of decreased school funding, we are going to be in a rebuilding process,” Stafford said. “Just because we have received a portion of that doesn’t take us from being the fifth-poorest funded district in state to adequate funding.”

He expects it will take the district about 10 years to get to adequate funding.

“The things we hope to achieve with any new dollars in Vienna, first and foremost, is to stabilize our current financial condition. Once that is stabilized, the next things we want to accomplish are things that will affect teaching and learning in our classrooms, such as administrative and support staff, reducing the number of bus routes, (and) smaller class sizes.”

Numerous classes in Vienna contain more than 30 students. They hope, once the district is stable, to hire teachers, so they can put teachers in classrooms in front of kids.

“We want it to have a direct impact on getting the best results we can for our students,” Stafford said.