SWANSEA — State Senator Christopher Belt announced that 25 school districts across the area will receive over $12 million in additional funding to help address the financial challenges of recent years.
“Evidence-based funding makes a world of difference in school districts that are in more disadvantaged areas,” said Belt (D-Swansea). “When we take into account data-driven strategies, we are able to provide adequate funding to the schools that need it most, giving all students, regardless of their background, a fair shot at quality education.”
The funding comes from the 2017 Illinois Senate Democrat-backed evidence-based funding formula — an overhaul of the way the state funds K-12 education. The law made school funding more equitable by calculating the needs of individual school districts and basing its state revenue on those needs. The formula takes into account a district’s total enrollment, poverty rate and number of special education or English language learners, among other factors.
Local schools set to receive funding through the formula:
- Belle Valley School District 119 - $385,725
- Belleville School District 118 - $630,379
- Belleville Township High School District 201 - $3,044,940
- Brooklyn Unit School District 188 - $2,569
- Cahokia Community Unit School District 187 - $182,264
- Dupo Community Unit School District 196 - $138,373
- East St. Louis School District 189 - $4,450
- Freeburg Community Consolidated District 70 - $143,874
- Freeburg Community High School District 77 - $274,881
- Grant Community Consolidated School District 110 - $154,993
- Harmony-Emge School District 175 - $198,369
- High Mount School District 116 - $24,101
- Lebanon Community Unit School District 9 - $12,260
- Mascoutah Community Unit School District 19 - $2,707,876
- Millstadt Community Consolidated School District 160 - $11,833
- New Athens Community Unit School District 60 - $167,195
- O’Fallon Community Consolidated School District 90 - $1,888,753
- O’Fallon Township High School District 203 - $1,438,918
- Shiloh Village School District 85 - $144,022
- Signal Hill School District 181 - $31,029
- Smithton Community Consolidated School District 130 - $149,779
- Clair Regional Office of Education Safe School - $111,027
- Venice Community Unit School District 3 - $77
- Whiteside School District 115 - $272,077
- Wolf Branch School District 113 - $165,955
The Fiscal Year 2025 budget invested $350 million in new funding into students’ success through the evidence-based funding model.
For more information on the FY 25 evidence-based funding distribution, visit the Illinois State Board of Education’s website.