Illinois School Funding Crisis Deepens as Evidence-Based Formula Falls Seven Years Behind Schedule
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Illinois will miss its 2027 deadline to adequately fund all public schools by seven years, forcing students in the state’s poorest districts to wait until 2034 for constitutional funding levels unless lawmakers dramatically increase annual education appropriations beyond the current $350 million baseline, according to a new analysis from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability that reveals the evidence-based funding formula’s promise of educational equity remains unfulfilled for three-quarters of Illinois children.
TL;DR
Illinois will miss its 2027 school funding deadline by seven years, pushing adequacy to 2034.
The state needs $500 million more annually beyond current increases to reach adequacy by 2030.
Three-quarters of Illinois children attend schools below adequate funding levels.
A Vandalia student has been deprived of $21,500 in five years and will be 28 before adequate funding.
Multiple crises compound the problem: state budget deficits, expiring federal COVID relief, and threatened federal funding cuts.
The evidence-based funding formula is sound policy, but insufficient annual appropriations have rendered it ineffective.
Students entering kindergarten this fall will graduate high school before Illinois fulfills its 2017 funding promise.
Illinois will miss its 2027 deadline to adequately fund all public schools by seven years, forcing students in the state’s poorest districts to wait until 2034 for constitutional funding levels unless lawmakers dramatically increase annual education appropriations, according to a new analysis from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.
The state’s landmark Evidence-Based Funding formula, signed into law in 2017 with bipartisan support and a promise to close deep funding disparities by 2027, has fallen critically behind schedule due to a COVID-era funding freeze and insufficient annual increases. The analysis reveals Illinois would need to add $500 million annually beyond current appropriations to reach adequacy by 2030, or increase funding by $1.1 billion each year to meet the original 2027 deadline.
“I think school districts will have to make some tough financial decisions in the next coming years,” said Elaine Gaberik, co-author of the CTBA report, as the state faces declining revenues and the expiration of federal COVID relief funds.
The funding shortfall affects three-quarters of Illinois children, with 707 of the state’s 851 school districts still operating below their adequacy targets. The impact is most severe in the state’s poorest communities, where students are systematically deprived of resources during their entire K-12 education.
A stark example from Vandalia Community School District illustrates the crisis: a kindergartener entering school in 2017 should have received $9,155 in state aid under the evidence-based formula but received only $4,656. By fourth grade in 2022, that same student’s state aid should have grown to $9,872 but the district received just $5,720—a cumulative deprivation of $21,500 in just five years. At the current funding rate, that student will be 28 years old before their district receives 90 percent of required funding.
“Generations of public school students will be deprived of their right to a quality, fully-funded public education and we should all see that as being unacceptable,” said Elizabeth Todd-Breland, vice president of the Chicago Board of Education, during a recent committee meeting.
The evidence-based funding formula was designed to correct decades of inequitable school funding in Illinois by focusing new resources on districts furthest from their “adequacy targets”—the research-based amount needed to provide students with the education they need to succeed academically. The formula accounts for student demographics, local property wealth, and specific educational needs including special education, English learners, and low-income students.
However, the Legislature’s annual increases of $350 million—while meeting the statutory minimum—have proven insufficient to meet the 2027 deadline, particularly after lawmakers held funding flat in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. That single-year freeze, combined with inflation and increased costs, significantly delayed the formula’s implementation timeline.
State Superintendent Tony Sanders acknowledged the challenging fiscal environment, noting that ISBE requested a $497 million increase to $11.4 billion in general fund spending, but Governor JB Pritzker’s proposed budget would provide $200 million less than requested. The governor’s plan also proposes cutting approximately $100 million from mandatory categorical aid for transportation and special education, though it does maintain the $350 million annual increase to evidence-based funding.
The funding crisis is compounded by additional fiscal pressures. State budget officials project revenues down by $800 million, while Illinois faces a projected $3.2 billion budget deficit for FY2026. Federal COVID-19 relief money that boosted school budgets in recent years is set to expire, and the Trump administration has threatened to withhold roughly 10 percent of federal education funding—approximately $6.4 billion for Illinois—over disputes about diversity and equity programs.
Author Quote"
This funding crisis represents more than numbers on a spreadsheet—it’s a profound failure of political will that will shape the futures of hundreds of thousands of Illinois children. The evidence-based funding formula was a landmark achievement, but a formula without funding is just arithmetic.
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“We don’t have a way to make up for that loss of funds,” Sanders told lawmakers when discussing the potential federal funding cuts.
Chicago Public Schools, the state’s largest district, exemplifies the adequacy gap. CPS maintains it is underfunded by $1.1 billion under the state formula—the amount needed to reach adequacy. Of the district’s $9.4 billion budget, roughly $2.5 billion comes from state funding, with $1.7 billion flowing through the evidence-based funding formula. The district has risen from 63 percent of its adequacy target in 2018 to nearly 75 percent in 2023, but significant gaps remain.
Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery emphasized that inadequate investment fails to reflect student needs and educator workforce requirements, particularly as the state continues to face teacher shortages and retention challenges.
The CTBA analysis notes that Illinois currently spends 2.5 times the national average on general administration, suggesting potential savings of $716.6 million through consolidation and efficiency improvements. However, such administrative reforms would require significant political will and structural changes to the state’s education governance system.
Key Takeaways:
1
Seven-year delay: Illinois' 2027 school funding adequacy deadline now pushed to 2034 without major funding increases
2
$2.3 billion gap: Amount still needed to reach 90% adequacy target across all 851 Illinois school districts
3
$500 million annually: Additional funding required beyond current $350 million increases to reach adequacy by 2030
The evidence-based funding formula itself is widely regarded as a best-practice model for school finance reform, with progressive features that prioritize the most underfunded districts and account for the varying costs of educating different student populations. The challenge lies not in the formula’s design but in the political and fiscal capacity to fund it adequately.
As Illinois approaches the 2027 deadline with $2.3 billion still needed to reach 90 percent adequacy across all districts, education advocates are calling for substantially increased appropriations. Without such action, another generation of students—particularly those in Illinois’ poorest and most diverse communities—will continue to be denied the educational resources the state’s own formula deems necessary for academic success.
The delay until 2034 means students entering kindergarten this fall will graduate high school before Illinois fulfills its 2017 promise of adequate funding for all schools.
Author Quote"
When we tell a five-year-old in Vandalia or Chicago’s West Side that they’ll have to wait until they’re nearly 30 for their school to be adequately funded, we’re not just delaying educational equity—we’re foreclosing on their potential during the very years that matter most for learning.
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Illinois’ school funding crisis exemplifies the gap between policy promises and political courage. When we design one of the nation’s best funding formulas but systematically underfund it, we’re not just failing mathematics—we’re failing our children. The evidence-based funding approach provides a clear roadmap to educational equity, but without adequate resources, it becomes merely aspirational. This isn’t about blame; it’s about choice. Will Illinois commit the $500 million to $1.1 billion annually that the formula requires, or will another generation of students—disproportionately children of color and those living in poverty—pay the price for our fiscal timidity? The answer will determine whether Illinois’ promise of educational justice remains a broken commitment or becomes a transformative reality. Ready to advocate for systematic change in education funding? Join our All Access Program to understand the intersection of policy and practice in creating equitable learning opportunities.
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