Education leaders seek added state funding to help districts accommodate
influx of migrants
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[April 18, 2024]
By PETER HANCOCK
Capitol News Illinois
phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com
 SPRINGFIELD – The recent surge of international migrants arriving in
Illinois has brought with it a host of new challenges for state and
local officials. Those range from filling their most basic needs like
emergency food, clothing and shelter, to more complex issues like lining
them up with basic health care, financial assistance and other social
services.
But there is another challenge stemming from the influx of migrants that
some advocates say the state has not done enough to address – educating
the children of those coming across the border.
Jeannie Stachowiak, superintendent of North Palos School District 117, a
district of about 3,500 students in Chicago’s southwest suburbs, told a
legislative committee this week how the crisis has affected her schools.
“Over 40 percent of our students qualify for English learner services,
and the numbers are continuing to grow,” she said. “Just this year, we
have enrolled 83 newcomer students who come from 16 different countries,
from the Middle East, Eastern Europe, South America, and Mexico. Many of
these students have suffered trauma in their countries of origin and
have experienced interrupted schooling. Several who are enrolled also
need additional services beyond that of (English learner), which may
include special education as they were not properly identified and
supported before they came to the United States.”
Kimako Patterson, chief of staff at the Illinois State Board of
Education, said that in the last two years, a total of 62,644
“newcomers” have arrived in the state’s schools. Those are people age 3
to 21 who were born outside of the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and
Puerto Rico and have been attending school in the U.S. for less than
three years.
Most of those students are enrolled in Chicago Public Schools, she said,
but an estimated 12,771 are enrolled in other districts. She said those
students come from 147 different countries, led by Mexico, Colombia,
Ukraine, India and Venezuela.
In January, ISBE submitted a funding request for the upcoming fiscal
year totaling just over $11 billion, or roughly one-fifth of the state’s
entire General Revenue Fund budget. That included $35 million in new
funding to support migrant students.
Although Gov. JB Pritzker did not include that money in the budget
proposal he sent to the General Assembly, ISBE still hopes to have it
included in the final budget that lawmakers pass this session.
State Rep. Fred Crespo, a Democrat from the Cook County village of
Hoffman Estates, is the lead sponsor of two bills – House Bills 2822 and
3991 – that would authorize ISBE to distribute $35 million in New
Arrival Student Grants to local districts that apply for a share of the
funding.
But some advocates now say the $35 million that was included in ISBE’s
budget request was based on old information, and they now estimate a
much higher cost of $188 million, just for districts in the Chicago
metropolitan area.
“Yes, $188 million to fund the Supporting Newcomer Students program,”
Bridget Peach, executive director of the advocacy group ED-RED, told the
House K-12 education budget committee Tuesday. “This amount represents
the needs of (Chicago Public Schools), Cook County, Lake County, and
DuPage County school districts.”
That figure came as a shock to some committee members, particularly
Republicans who view the influx of migrants as a direct consequence of
state and local policies that welcome immigrants, regardless of their
legal status.
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Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service
covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of
newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily
by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick
Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois
Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.
“Do we think that it's a good idea to stop, or at least put a
moratorium, on the sanctuary state policy until we could get to a level
where we could actually afford this,” asked Rep. Blaine Wilhour,
R-Beecher City. “I mean, we have every district in the state coming in
here saying that we can't adequately fund education as it is. And then
we've got a policy that we're inviting the folks here, most of them
illegally, and we simply can't afford it.”
“It's a legitimate question,” Crespo replied. “I think when we adopted
the sanctuary city (policy), we (did so with) good intentions. That's
who we are, especially for a state that's pretty much controlled by
Democrats. And I firmly believe in that.”
Later, when Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, asked when, if ever, the
influx of new migrants into Illinois will subside, Crespo responded
jokingly that it was a question better directed to Texas Gov. Greg
Abbott. The Republican governor has organized the shipment of migrants
crossing the southern U.S.-Mexico border to Chicago and other
Democratically controlled cities.
As of April 16, the city of Chicago reported it had welcomed more than
39,000 individuals that had been bused or flown from Texas. Of those,
more than 16,000 had been resettled, according to the city.
“I was hoping we didn't have to start talking about Texas,” said
committee Chair Will Davis, D-Homewood. “So I think we acknowledge the
role that Texas is playing. And we'll just move on from there.”
In a separate interview, Crespo said he does not actually expect his
colleagues to approve $188 million for migrant education. But he said he
felt it was important for lawmakers to start talking about the actual
cost of educating the migrant population.
“My main goal was to create awareness that when we talk about the
newcomers, we talk about housing, we talk about health care, feeding
these people, but we never really talk about education,” he said. “Some
school districts have seen their population go up by 10 percent. And
that's a lot for one year to the next.”
Pritzker did propose a $450 million increase in overall funding for
PreK-12 education next year, including a $350 million increase in the
Evidence-Based Funding formula, the primary formula used for allocating
state money to local school districts.
But Peach said funding for the migrant population should be treated
differently because that formula does not take into account the special
circumstances surrounding the migrant population.
“The calculation of each school district's enrollment for EBF is taken
at the beginning of the school year on one day,” she said. “So that
snapshot fails to adequately capture the number of enrolled newcomer
students based on the high mobility of the population we're serving. And
that's really creating a funding gap for individual districts to
address.”
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is
distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide.
It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert
R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the
Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial
Association.
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