Evidenced-Based Adequacy Model for School Funding:

Success Rates in Illinois Schools

Guy Joseph Banicki¹, Gregg Murphy² 
(1. School of Finance, Illinois State University, USA; 2. Regional Superintendent-Kankakee County, Illinois State University, USA)

Abstract: Discussions about changes in how to fund education continue. The increasing demand to add additional charter schools and consider tuition vouchers to the field is shifting the focus on how to finance the local public school. The shifts in school finance policies nationally have had an effect on the policies in place in Illinois (Fritts, 2010). The tax structure varies from state to state. The percentage of property tax varies from school district to neighboring school district. The evolution of the concept of fair is one that is important to understand if the goal is to improve the current funding system and move to a system that can better address the needs of the students of Illinois. As policymakers and educators alike look toward future reforms, it is important to understand the pressures that have brought us to the current system. This review begins by analyzing the efforts in the early and mid-1900s that move the educational funding system from one that was available only to the privileged children to one that would be available to all students (Cubberley, 2005). The review continues to tract the changes in the concept of fair as it evolves to one of equity of resources, a shift that is guided by research and litigation (Hickrod, 1985; Odden & Picus, 2000). The evolving concept of fairness addresses the systems where strict adherence to an equity model may be met, yet funding for students continues to be related to relative property value within a district (Fritts, 2010).

Key words: fair funding, equity, adequacy