Illinois School Board Journal
November/December 2007

W.A. "Tony" Brunson of Matteson, Illinois, is a member of the Rich THSD 227 school board and currently is resolutions chair for the South Cook Division.

During the last election cycle, not a single Illinois candidate of any party, at any level, spoke directly on an issue that should be uppermost in the minds of Illinois residents: the looming call for a constitutional convention.

In 1970, the citizens of Illinois approved a new state constitution containing provision for a periodic review of that document by the voters every 20 years or less. Article XIV, Section 1 (b) states: "If the question of whether a convention should be called is not submitted during any 20-year period, the Secretary of State shall submit such question at the general election in the 20th year following the last submission."

If the referendum question is passed by the voters, a constitutional convention must be called. The last vote for a constitutional convention was held in 1988, and it failed by a margin of 3-1. Another such opportunity must be offered to voters in 2008. In the November general election, Illinois voters will have the chance to vote "yea" or "nay" to call the convention, which would actually convene in 2010.

Two delegates from each state legislative district would then be elected as convention delegates to draft, rewrite, rework, refine and otherwise redo those sections of the Illinois Constitution that merit attention. The section that most impacts school districts is Article X, Section 1: "The State has the primary responsibility for financing the system of public education."

That the state was supposed to be responsible for the majority of the funding for public schools was thought to be a directive in the 1970 constitution. But, the legislature has ultimately been able to sidestep that requirement by viewing that section of the constitution as a goal and not a mandate.

According to the September 2006 issue of Fiscal Focus, a publication from the office of State Comptroller Dan Hynes, the breakdown of funding sources looks like this:

Local — $11.5 billion (55.5 percent)

State — $7 billion (33.8 percent)

Federal — $2.2 billion (10.7 percent)

The largest source of revenue for the state's portion of education funding remains the sales tax (33.5 percent), followed by gaming sources (26.1 percent), general revenue fund transfers (21.3 percent), income tax (14.1 percent), and "taxes and other sources" (5 percent).

A 2008 convention could allow delegates to stipulate in a revised Illinois Constitution exactly how the state's public schools should be funded.

In the last 18 years, Illinois has languished near the bottom of the list of states — 48th — when it comes to the amount of money residents pay in state and local taxes as a percentage of their income. A suggestion to increase the state income tax from 3 percent to 5 percent would bring Illinois up to 42nd place on this list.

Even this lowly placement would reap tremendous benefits in increasing education funding because Illinois is a prosperous state. An income tax increase would tend to even out the burden of funding as well as keep pace with educational cost of living expenses more so than most other methods, according to "Education Funding and the State Budget," a presentation by Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.

Granted, some people caught by this increased tax liability would have no children in schools or are on fixed incomes. But that overlooks the other benefits that citizens enjoy as a result of other publicly funded programs. Public safety, public transportation, public libraries, public parks and public welfare are all services funded by taxes that benefit all citizens but may not be used by everyone. These benefits are available, as is public education, to anyone and everyone who needs the service.

Another suggestion to increase education funding dealt with allowing casinos in Illinois to add gaming stations and then increase the taxes on those casinos, or adding a casino site in Chicago. These ideas have a windfall potential of hundreds of millions of dollars for education funding. But Illinois citizens have long memories. Many can vividly recall the state approving where lottery fee monies were supposed to go and how. It did not happen.

While some people don't want to promote gambling as a public policy by which we help to balance our educational budget, Illinois already has a viable horse racing industry, off-track betting parlors and licensed bingo games.

A proposal to sell the Illinois Lottery is a temporary fix and does not provide for any future growth in the need for revenue.

Property taxes still account for the overwhelming portion of a school district's budget, augmented by state money for transportation and gifted programs as well as local school fees. Federal dollars in the budget are more specifically allocated to breakfast and lunch programs and to matters that equalize facilities and programs between races and sexes.

Property owners are resistant to increases in their taxes, which makes a good argument for looking at other sources of revenue for school funding — revenue streams such as sales and state income taxes.

Education funding is an area that needs to be addressed absent election promises. With passage of a referendum to have a constitutional convention, the citizens of Illinois can seize direct control of what they want done and how they want to do it.

No matter how well-intentioned our current legislators, the system under which they must work just isn't getting the job done. Some issues are bigger than partisan politics and educational funding is one of them.

The direct election — with no political affiliation — of 118 delegates to a constitutional convention could deal with issues and not politics. Organizations such as the Illinois Association of School Boards, the Illinois League of Women Voters, the Illinois Education Association, the Illinois Better Business Bureau and many other non-partisan, non-political organizations could find and field an eminently qualified group of people to refashion a more viable and workable constitution that will best benefit education and thus all Illinoisans.

The citizens of Illinois can take a leading role in correcting the educational short-sightedness of its elected officials at the state and federal level.

Each year, during the week before Thanksgiving, IASB meets with the Illinois Association of School Administrators and the Illinois Association of School Business Officials in Chicago. These three organizations represent 869 school districts, more than 6,000 school board members and more than 2 million school-age children in this state.

We cannot afford to wait to begin the conversation about a constitutional convention. If we wait too long, we might be left with the option of sending our current political leaders back to Springfield to act as constitutional convention delegates. This is not a viable option. They have been there and that system hasn't been responsive to education needs.

We must recruit and then train individuals willing to make considered, rational non-partisan decisions regarding all matters of public interest, but especially education funding.

If we don't do these things now and do it ourselves, we will have no one else to blame but ourselves. Education cannot wait another 20 years for the next constitutional convention opportunity. Our society cannot wait. Our children cannot wait.

In a position statement adopted in 2005, the Illinois Association of School Boards' delegate assembly said it would "actively participate in promoting" a constitutional convention, either in 2008 or earlier.

IASB also has taken the position since 1973 that the organization would urge the governor and legislature "to increase funding of education to such levels as would be necessary to implement the constitutional requirement that the state have primary responsibility for financing the system of public education … ."

And while the call for a constitutional convention may look like a good opportunity to remedy education funding problems, the conundrum is that a convention would not be limited to just the education funding section.

Ben Schwarm, associate executive director of governmental relations, said calling a constitutional convention also would open the entire document for possible changes.

"While this would seem to be a good opportunity to solve the funding problems that face school districts," he said, "we could be faced with other changes that might not be in education's best interest."

Possible constitutional resolutions already under discussion that would directly affect school districts are to increase to three-fifths the majority needed to pass a bill that increases revenue, an elimination of all property taxes, and changes to pension provisions that might adversely affect teachers and administrators.

Other resolutions that may not directly affect schools but that would be open for discussion are same-sex marriage, elimination of home rule provisions and establishing a recall provision for elected officials.

IASB ARCHIVES HOME