PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — As Peoria Public Schools receive more in-state funding, some advocates are saying Illinois isn’t properly funding its public schools.
According to Advance Illinois, an independent group focused on education, Illinois needs to fund its public school system an additional $2.5 billion to be what’s considered "adequately funded."
This year, PPS saw a jump from 65% to 82.5% adequate funding, according to Cheryl Flores with Advance Illinois. That still doesn’t reach the magic number of 90% adequate funding that they said is vital for public schools.
"I would say there is progress being made and worth celebrating," she said. "But in general, the system is still underfunded by 2.5 billion dollars."
Illinois public schools are funded through the Evidence-Based Funding model, which sends more resources to Illinois’ most under-resourced students, according to the Illinois State Board of Education website.
Flores said in 2018, the first year EBF started, 62% of students were attending severely underfunded schools.
"Fast forward to 2025, and that percentage is now at 4%. So that has done a lot of great work in school districts like Peoria School District 150," she said.
A rally in Springfield led by the Illinois Federation of Teachers requests state lawmakers to fund the public school system an additional $2.5 billion.
"It sounds like we’re asking for more, but we’re not asking for more. We’re asking them to just follow through on what they said they would do," said Peoria Federation of Teachers President Leslie Danage.
Schools that are underfunded could have larger class sizes, less support for special education students and fewer services for English language learners, according to Danage.
Mick Willis, the Peoria Public School Board of Education Chief Financial Officer, said the increase in state funding has come after they’ve received less money for their Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax. However, he said the PPS system is not fully funded.
"We have long been accustomed to making do with resources we have," he said. "If we were fortunate enough to get those dollars, there would be more things that we would be able to do that we right now can’t do."
This financial year was considered a tight budget year for Illinois. Because of that, programs supported even by Governor JB Pritzker, like Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults, were cut to keep the budget balanced.
Flores said even with a tight budget year, public schools should still receive more state funding.
"We are sensitive to the fact that it is a tight budget year, and we recognize that there are difficult decisions that need to be made," she said. "But I think education is an area that needs to continue to be invested in for a variety of reasons."
Lawmakers could look at ways to give Illinois public schools more funding when the regular session begins on Jan. 1.
