Kane County Reporter

Senator Don DeWitte of Illinois Senate District 33 has voiced his opinion on the Evidence-Based School Funding Formula, stating, "The Evidence-Based School Funding Formula was created and approved in a bipartisan manner with input from Chicago Public Schools (CPS)." DeWitte further stated that CPS does not have the privilege to ‘cut in line just because they are Chicago."

"The Evidence-Based School Funding Formula was created and approved in a bipartisan manner with input from Chicago Public Schools," said Donald Dewitte, State Senator, according to Facebook. "CPS is a Tier II school district. There are 300 Tier I schools ahead of them in line. They do not get to cut in line just because they are Chicago."

In a social media update, Senator DeWitte provided a link to an ABC7Chicago report titled "CTU goes to Springfield to lobby lawmakers for more school funding, CPS CEO agrees $1B needed." The report highlighted that federal COVID funding had temporarily allowed CPS full funding. However, these funds will not be available for the next school year.
DeWitte was quoted in the news report saying, "For the mayor and now his minions in the Chicago Teachers Union to come down here and bully lawmakers into more money claiming they are being shortchanged, is absolutely outrageous." The report also noted that "under the need-based funding formula, Springfield has sent more money to CPS every year, even as enrollment drops."

Screenshot of Sen. Don DeWitte's May 16 Facebook post | Senator Don DeWitte Facebook page

According to an article published by Illinois Policy on May 9, an internal memo from the Chicago Teachers Union encouraged members to "use a release day to leave their students and lobby in Springfield." The same source reported that while visiting the capitol is considered a "rite of passage" for students, "CTU is asking teachers to leave kids at school and tell lawmakers they need more money to support the 142-pages of contract demands, including average teacher raises of $51,000, plus social justice, housing and environmental policy changes CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said could cost "$50 billion… and three cents."

As per WBEZ's reporting, 250 teachers and staff of CPS along with top leaders of CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union traveled to Springfield on May 15. They took buses to reach the state capitol. WBEZ stated that under the evidence-based funding formula created in 2017, districts are divided into multiple tiers. Tier 1 schools require the most help, and tier 4 schools need the least. However, school districts across the state, including Chicago, lack sufficient funds to adequately serve their students. The goal is to achieve 90% adequacy by 2027, but CPS is nearly $1 billion short of this target.

DeWitte has been serving the people of Illinois’ 33rd senate district since his appointment in 2018. Prior to this role, he was the mayor of St. Charles from 2005 to 2013 and an alderman between 1993 and 2005. He also served on the Regional Transportation Authority Board between 2013 and 2018, representing Kane County as per his official senate biography.