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Jason Barickman - Public School Funding

Senator Jason Barickman discusses his involvement with the effort to change Illinois's school funding formula. He discusses the legislative period from 2012 to 2019. He reviews the challenges in the previous school formula, including funding inequities, the cutbacks found in downstate schools due to the lack of revenue, the negative impact of pro-rating state aid for the neediest schools, and issues related to the state budget (or lack of one) including rising pension and Medicaid costs. He talks about how the new evidence based school funding model became the preferred choice for funding reform, which included support from grass root groups like Vision 20/20, as well as past and present school funding court cases, and various governor commissions.