Illinois State Board of Education — Maintenance of Equity Baseline and Initial Data (July 29, 2021)

Summary

The Illinois State Board of Education sent this letter dated July 29, 2021, to Sadia Inayat at the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. It submits the state's maintenance of equity baseline and initial data under Section 2004 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The letter says data for items one, two, four, six, seven, and nine is submitted, and that the Department approved an extension to October 15, 2021, for items three, five, and eight. It also explains the state's Evidence-Based Funding formula, enacted in August 2017, with Tier 1 districts receiving 50 percent of funding increases. The letter closes under the name Robert Wolfe.

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Full text

Illinois State Board of Education

100 North First Street ¢ Springfield, Illinois 62777-0001

www. isbe.ner
Darren Reisberg Dr. Carmen I. Ayala
Chair of the Board State Superintendent of Education
July 29, 2021
Sadia Inayat

U.S. Department of Education

Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
Office of State and Grantee Relations (SGR)
400 Maryland Avenue, SW

Washington, D.C. 20202

Transmitted to email address: Illinois.oese@ed.gov
Dear Ms. Inayat:

This letter serves as Illinois’ submission of its maintenance of equity baseline and initial data per Section
2004 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

Per your email on June 24, 2021, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is submitting data for items
one, two, four, six, seven, and nine. The Department approved ISBE’s request to extend the deadline to
October 15, 2021 for items three, five, and eight. The table below provides a summary of the baseline
and initial data items submitted and a key to find this data in the attachments.

MOEquity

Data Item Excel Document Excel Tab Location Key/Comments

One illinois MOEquity Master File 07 High-Need LEAs High-Need LEAs are shaded in green
28 2021

Two Illinois MOEquity Master File 07 High-Need LEAs Amount is $3,776.20 and is found in cell 5
28 2021

Three Data is due October 15, 2021

Four Illinois MOEquity Master File 07 High-Need LEAs | Found in Column |
28 2021

Five Data is due October 15, 2021

Six Illinois MOEquity Master File 07 Highest-Poverty | Highest-Poverty LEAs are shaded in blue
28 2021 LEAs

Seven Illinois MOEquity Master File 07 Highest-Poverty | Found in Column |
28 2021 LEAs

Eight Data is due October 15, 2021

Nine Nlinois MOEquity High-Poverty NonExempt Found in Column H; Identification and
Schools 07 29 2021 ranking of high-poverty schools is based

on the LEA as a whole

The primary funding source for elementary and secondary education in Illinois is the state’s Evidence-
Based Funding (EBF) formula that was enacted in August 2017. Fiscal year 2022 will be the fifth year for
distributions from this formula to LEAs. EBF requires the construction of an Adequacy Target,
representing the state’s estimate of the cost of providing education, specific to each LEA. The Adequacy
Target is based on 34 different cost factors that contribute to the total cost or target. Comparing local
district resources and Base Funding Minimum (BFM) to the Adequacy Target produces a percentage of
adequacy that communicates how close each district is to adequate funding.

Districts are annually assigned to one of four funding tiers based on their percentage of adequacy.
Districts in Tier 1 are those most in need of state assistance. These districts will receive 50 percent of
funding increases. Districts qualify for Tier 1 if their percentage of adequacy is less than the Tier 1
Target Ratio. That ratio is calculated so that 50 percent of increased funding is distributed to Tier 1
districts. Tier 2 districts have a percentage of adequacy that is greater than or equal to the Tier 1 Target
Ratio and less than 90 percent. Tier 2 receives 49 percent of increased funding which provides
distributions to both Tier 1 and Tier 2 districts. Tier 3 districts have a percentage of adequacy greater
than or equal to 90 percent and less than 100 percent. Tier 3 districts receive 0.9 percent of increased
funding. Tier 4 districts have a percentage of adequacy greater than or equal to 100 percent and receive
0.1 percent of increased funding.

One of the unique characteristics of the state’s funding formula is the use of a hold harmless payment,
called the BFM. Each district is guaranteed to receive the same amount as the prior year plus the BFM
grows annually by the amount of tier funding the district received in the prior year. This feature ensures
that school districts are not impacted by enrollment declines (state funding is not reduced). When
enrollment decreases, the district’s adequacy percentage increases which results in a decreased amount
of distributions from tier funds.

The table below shows the state’s funding for the EBF formula since its inception.

$thousands FY 2018* | FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2022** Total
Appropriation | $620,484.1 | $381,003.3 | $375,000.0 $0.0 | $362,100.0 | $1,738,587.4
Increase to
EBF
EBF Actual $366,610.0 | $300,022.4| $312,491.6 $0.0 | $300,000.0 | $1,279,124.0
| Tier Funding

*FY 2018 does not include $221.3 million included in EBF appropriation for the Chicago Teachers’ Pension and Retirement
Fund.

** FY 2022 appropriation includes the integration of $12.1 million from the District Intervention line that becomes part of the
Base Funding Minimum for two school districts (East St. Louis SD 189 and North Chicago CUSD 187) beginning in FY 2022.

Please feel free to contact me by phone at 217-782-0249 or email at rwolfe@isbe.net if you have any
questions.

Sincerely,

Robert Wolfe, CP.
Financial Officer

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