Gov. Rauner: First, fix the school funding formula

A version of Chicago’s North Side vs. South Side battle unfolded during a recent education hearing.

For the record, the South Side won the argument.

A task force established by House Speaker Michael Madigan is exploring an overhaul of the school funding formula — the distribution of public education money based on need. The formula is supposed to help lower-income districts by giving them more state aid.

But the formula is broken. The whole system, actually, is broken. Roughly half of the money many schools receive doesn’t get squeezed through the formula anymore. Grants have increasingly been sent to school districts as lump sums, in some cases outpacing what districts receive through the means-tested formula… Please click here to read Kristen McQueary’s column in the Tribune.