EAST ST. LOUIS – To help offset the financial challenges of the last few years, State Senator Christopher Belt announced that school districts across the 57th Senate District will receive millions in additional funding.
The funding comes from the 2017 Illinois Senate Democrat-backed evidence based funding formula, which reexamined the state funding model for K-12 education. Thanks to this law, the school funding formula is more equitable as it takes into account a district’s total enrollment, poverty rate, the number of special education or English language learners, among other factors to base its revenue needs.
“Schools were some of the hardest hit by the pandemic, and they can benefit heavily from this increased financial support,” said Senator Belt (D-Swansea). “Building off of the tax holiday for school supplies, this funding is yet another opportunity for educators to acquire the resources they need to provide children with the most optimal learning environment.”
The following schools and community unit school districts are set to receive funding:
• Venice CUSD, $660,389.02
• Safe School (Regional), $408,676.80
• Granite City CUSD, $32,137,026.79
• Madison CUSD, $5,433,026.28
• Lebanon CUSD, $1,801,292.92
• Freeburg Elementary, $1,497,684.74
• Freeburg HS, $1,717,177.67
• Shiloh Village Elementary, $2,415,438.15
• Fallon Elementary, $11,300,791.96
• Pontiac Holliday Elementary, $677,467.62
• Grant Elementary, $2,046,555.96
• Wolf Branch Elementary, $1,273,243.22
• Whiteside Elementary, $4,072,790.72
• High Mount Elementary, $2,344,191.07
• Belleville Elementary, $24,709,329.36
• Belle Valley Elementary, $7,029,414.83
• Smithton Elementary, $1,483,793.37
• Millstadt Elementary, $1,106,890.87
• Harmony-Emge Elementary, $3,137,287.84
• Signal Hill Elementary, $1,725,946.72
• Cahokia CUSD, $32,761,492.11
• Brooklyn CUSD, $1,076,675.65
• East St. Louis CUSD, $60,510,001.17
• Belleville Township HS, $24,740,585.77
• O’Fallon Township HS, $9,243,753.18
The Fiscal Year 23 budget invested an additional $350 million into student’s success through the evidence-based funding model.
“These investments will do wonders for the physical and intellectual learning environments across the district, and the students are more than deserving,” Belt said. “Raising children is a community effort, and I am thankful for all the hard work parents, teachers and other staff have done to uplift their students during such unpredictable times.”
In total, schools in the area Belt represents saw a total of $235 million in additional funding. For more information on the FY 23 evidence-based funding distribution, people can visit isbe.net/Pages/EvidenceBasedFunding
