Several school districts are coming together for a town hall Monday night to discuss Illinois’ current school funding crisis.
Superintendents Dr. Kerry L. Cox of Carrollton, Dr. Kevin Bowman from Greenfield and Mr. Mark Scott of North Greene are teaming up with Advance Illinois to host Monday night’s meeting in Carrollton. Advance Illinois is an organization geared towards identifying and advocating for policies designed to meet the educational needs of Illinois students.
Advance Illinois’ Anna Schneider explains the purpose behind these town hall meetings.
“We are just holding these town halls to spread accurate facts about Senate Bill 1, how all districts win under this bill. No districts will lose money. How it’s already passed the General Assembly, and how it needs to be passed in order for schools to get their general state aid. (Thursday) was the first payment due date for the general state aid and it was missed because we don’t have a formula in place.”
Schneider tells us more about Advance Illinois and the coalition it’s associated with.
“We are one of the organizations that are part of a statewide coalition called Fix the Formula Illinois that includes superintendents across the state, statewide organizations like the Illinois PTA, and the Illinois Association for School Business Officials, and also faith-based organizations…We all kind of have the same knowledge that Illinois is ranked the worst in school funding equity and we have the mission to solve that.”
For those planning to attend the town hall meeting, Schneider explains what will be discussed.
“There’s been a lot of misconceptions going around about how this bill is not equitable for downstate schools, and we just want to spread the correct facts and let people know that this is good for every single district. It is the equitable solution that our kids need, and it needs to be passed now.”
The town hall meeting will be held at the Carrollton Grade School Commons, located at 721 Fourth Street. Everyone is welcome to attend. The doors open at 6:00 p.m., with a presentation from Dr. Teresa Ramos starting around 6:45 p.m. followed by a question-and-answer session.