Teachers: Schools Will Struggle With Flat Funding

(Springfield, IL) -- Kids could be stuffed into larger class sizes next year, even though the state is holding school funding flat. Dan Montgomery, with the Illinois Federation of Teachers, says holding flat doesn't necessarily mean a win for struggling school districts. The state is required to give schools just over six-thousand-dollars for each of their students, but schools are only getting 89-percent of that. That hits hard for schools in poor districts that are already struggling to make ends meet. Many have already cut extra-curricular activities and cut teaching positions. Democrats were hoping to boost education funding but that idea essentially died when they couldn't get enough support to extend the income tax rate.