I'm inviting you to a special town hall meeting in Springfield this evening (Thursday, July 13) to learn more about the push for fair school funding in Illinois and what you can do to encourage Gov. Bruce Rauner to sign a landmark reform measure that will land on his desk soon.

The event is sponsored by the Faith Coalition for the Common Good. It is free and open to the public.

Senate Bill 1 passed in both houses of the legislature May 31. It would establish an evidence-based model for funding public education and ensure that schools throughout the state open on time without interruption this fall.

In addition, should Senate Bill 1 become law, it would clear the way for lawmakers to begin taking a serious look at the state’s unfair property tax system. Because of Illinois’ badly flawed school funding formula, school districts depend too heavily on local property taxes for support. This overreliance not only perpetuates high property taxes, it contributes to school funding disparities and significant student achievement gaps among school districts.

Illinois can do better. Learn more about the options by joining us at 6 p.m. tonight (Thursday) at Union Baptist Church, 1405 E. Monroe St., Springfield.

This town hall will include:

• A presentation about the evidence-based school funding model and Senate Bill 1.
• Speakers who will share facts about Senate Bill 1, which provides dollars to the state’s neediest school districts without taking money from other districts. In other words, no more winners and losers in Illinois.
• An opportunity to ask questions and to find out more about how to urge Gov. Rauner to cement his legacy as Illinois’ “education governor” by doing what’s right for all Illinois schoolchildren and signing Senate Bill 1 into law.

Despite statewide support for Senate Bill 1 and broad acknowledgement that our school funding formula is the worst in the nation, Gov. Rauner has pledged to veto Senate Bill 1 because he agrees with only 90 percent of the legislation. It’s disheartening that we’ve come this far in the fight to fix the formula only to be thwarted by partisan politics.

I hope you will take advantage of this special opportunity Thursday at Union Baptist Church. For more information about Senate Bill 1, visit fundingilfuture.org and the school funding reform section of my website.

When: 6 p.m. Thursday, July 13
Where: Union Baptist Church, 1405 E. Monroe St., Springfield
What: Town hall on fair school funding and Senate Bill 1, sponsored by the Faith Coalition for the Common Good. Free and open to the public.

A new Republican-backed school funding reform plan represents a redistribution of tax dollars and would result in the loss of federal money for special education and free and reduced lunch programs in school districts statewide.

Those are just two of the flaws that have been exposed so far in Senate Bill 1124, a plan that Republicans are attempting to rush through the General Assembly in the waning days of the special session.

Testimony presented during this afternoon’s House hearing on school funding reform made a firm case against Senate Bill 1124.

“An excellent school funding plan, Senate Bill 1, already has passed both houses of the Legislature with broad support from lawmakers, educators, parents and advocates in communities all over Illinois,” said Senator Andy Manar, a Bunker Hill Democrat and the sponsor of Senate Bill 1.

“The idea that lawmakers should consider a new plan at this point is ludicrous, particularly when that bill appears to be deeply flawed, has not been adequately vetted, lacks support and pits schools against one another – basically everything we worked so hard to avoid with Senate Bill 1.”

Among the problems apparent with the Republicans’ school funding proposal:

• It would result in the loss of federal funding for special education and free/reduced lunch programs in school districts statewide.
• It represents a redistribution of dollars from poor school districts to wealthy school districts.
• It creates winning and losing school districts.
• There is no Republican-sponsored revenue bill to pay for school funding.
• There are no known proponents for Senate Bill 1124, which is sponsored by Senator Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington).
• The Republicans’ full court press for Senate Bill 1124 began three weeks after May 31, the final day of the legislative session.
• Barickman and Rauner education secretary Beth Purvis directly contradicted each other about details of the proposal while answering questions throughout this afternoon’s hearing.

Manar complimented the House for hosting today’s informative hearing on school funding and for helping to shed light on some of the many problems with the newest reform proposal. Senate Bill 1 is the clear path forward, he said.

“I know the issue of school funding is important to Gov. Rauner. He has an opportunity to join us in declaring a bipartisan victory on behalf of Illinois children that is more than 20 years in the making,” Manar said.

“Gov. Rauner has indicated he supports 90 percent of Senate Bill 1. Having now heard all of the problems with Senator Barickman’s plan, I hope the governor will throw 100 percent of his support behind Senate Bill 1 so we can help 100 percent of Illinois students.”

Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) issued the following statement regarding the unveiling of a new school funding formula this morning by Republican State Senator Jason Barickman:

“The spring legislative session ended more than three weeks ago. Senator Barickman missed the deadline,” Manar said. “If his latest proposal was a final project, he’d earn an F because not only did he turn it in late, he showed up looking for his teacher after everyone had gone home and the school doors were locked for the summer.”

Manar, the sponsor of Senate Bill 1, a school funding proposal that passed in both houses of the General Assembly on May 31, took exception with Barickman’s negative characterizations of Senate Bill 1, which has widespread support from school superintendents, educators, parents and school funding reform advocates throughout Illinois.

“Republicans have done nothing but fall all over themselves to spread misinformation about Senate Bill 1 since the moment it passed,” Manar said.

“For Senator Barickman to portray Democrats and Senate Bill 1, which passed in both chambers of the Legislature after months of careful deliberation and bipartisan negotiation, as somehow disingenuous, then to demand support for his extremely late proposal today, I am at a loss for further words.”

For accurate information about Senate Bill 1, visit fundingilfuture.org and senatorandymanar.com.

The following column appeared in The (Springfield) State Journal-Register on June 16, 2017.

When I was 15, Sen. Vince Demuzio invited me to spend the day with him at the Illinois Capitol, stirring my love for public service and stoking my desire to be a catalyst for change.

This spring, several area students joined me for a day at the Capitol, coming from mostly public schools across the 48th Senate District.

These schools, in communities like Taylorville, Nokomis and Springfield, represent various populations, student needs and local property wealth.

But Illinois’ terrible school funding formula fails to acknowledge these inherent differences or the idea that offering the same high-quality education to every student requires different resources — and therefore different levels of funding — in each school district. Our rotten, outdated formula identifies winning and losing students based on little more than ZIP codes.

Students born in the Illinois rust or coal belts, shrinking rural villages or decaying urban centers are out of luck because the formula relies too heavily on property taxes to fund schools, and these communities can’t keep up. The formula annually siphons state dollars away and funnels them to wealthier districts. And if you happen to be a low-income student, Illinois will only spend 81 cents on the dollar to educate you.

It’s insane, and if we don’t change the formula now, it will continue to erode and punish downstate and low-income school districts.

That’s where Senate Bill 1 comes in. This plan, approved by the General Assembly in May, would move Illinois to an evidence-based formula, which has widespread support from school superintendents, educators, parents and community groups.

No school districts lose funding under this plan — no exceptions — and it builds in property tax relief for high-tax school districts. Unfortunately, not a single Springfield-area Republican voted for it. As soon as it passed, an orchestrated campaign attempted to conceal their bad vote from constituents.

I’m urging parents and taxpayers to do their homework. Consider these estimated overall gains for Springfield-area districts, which are based on the Illinois State Board of Education’s own analysis of SB 1:

• Auburn District 10 – $475,000
• Ball Chatham District 5 – $161,000
• Carlinville District 1 – $259,000
• Gillespie District 7 – $624,000
• Hillsboro District 3 – $194,000
• Jacksonville District 117 – $323,000
• Lincoln District 404 – $296,000
• Litchfield District 12 – $293,000
• North Greene District 3 – $247,000
• North Mac District 34 – $411,000
• Pana District 8 – $469,000
• Riverton District – $568,000
• Rochester District 3A – $159,000
• Springfield District 186 – $1.1 million
• Taylorville District 3 – $314,000
• Williamsville District 15 – $94,000

Does this look like a “Chicago bailout” to you?

This is the closest the legislature has come in decades to getting a school funding overhaul to the governor’s desk. It’s a good bill that corrects a long-standing wrong and puts all Illinois students on the path to a brighter future.

Let’s talk about some of those students who visited me at the Capitol this year.

Shaelyn Steele of Illiopolis was a senior at Sangamon Valley High School. She already had been taking nursing courses through community college two nights a week so she could work as a nursing assistant this summer and get an impressive head start on her college education.

Cole Davlin is now a senior at Springfield High School. His favorite subject is history, and he enjoys taking foreign language courses because he hopes to study political science and do ambassador work overseas after college.

Jack Curtin, who lives on his family’s farm in Stonington, recently graduated from Taylorville High School. He told me how he had helped generate support for a property tax increase after the school district was forced to make cuts to balance the budget. He’ll study crop science in college and wants to make sure Taylorville schools are in good shape when he returns home to Christian County someday to work on the family farm and put down roots of his own.

We need to do everything we can to nurture bright, driven, successful students like these — and every Illinois student. It begins by fixing the formula and making Illinois a national leader on fair school funding.

— State Sen. Andy Manar is a Democrat from Bunker Hill and the sponsor of Senate Bill 1.

Pictured above: Sangamon Valley High School senior Shaelyn Steele of Illiopolis visits Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) at the Illinois Capitol in Springfield on April 5, 2017.