Republican state lawmaker questions school funding formula

Posted on February 14, 2023
State Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City). (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – When Illinois superintendents gathered to celebrate five years of the new school funding formula, some lawmakers wonder if it’s really something to celebrate.

State Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-Beecher City) told the superintendent from Vienna the results haven’t followed the funding.

“Fourteen percent are doing math at grade level,” Wilhour said, “and, since 2017, when the (evidence based funding model) was formed, your proficiency has (fallen) off a cliff.”

Leading Vandalia superintendent Jennifer Garrison to admonish Wilhour: “When our legislature would expect us to be decimated, and then all of a sudden produce skills and rainbows, it’s not realistic. So let’s have the intentional conversations to understand state assessment before throwing out soundbites to make it sound like public schools are failing.”

Garrison and Vandalia are in Wilhour’s district.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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