Our Stories

High property taxes drive school funding inequity. But for every 2 districts that over-tax, there is at least 1 under-taxing district out there. The Evidence-Based Funding Formula identifies a target property tax rate for every district. The model calculates how much each district needs to be funded adequately. It then specifies a local capacity percentage (LCP) based […]

We’ve been saying for a while now that elected officials need to stop our state’s atrocious Brain Drain problem, and last week, we got a wakeup call that puts the crisis into stark relief. New data from the Illinois Board of Higher Education show that in 2017, nearly 50% of Illinois public high school graduates enrolled […]

We’ve told you about the many problems facing Illinois high school students that have led to our state’s chronic brain drain. Today is the day for action, because now we have actual legislation to support that will help solve many of the problems facing our students. Are you with us? Tell Springfield: it’s time to stop Illinois […]

My path to college wasn’t easy. I got expelled from high school and spent my junior and part of my senior year at an alternative school. When I finally graduated, I had no idea what I wanted to do. So, I took out a federal loan and enrolled in a private two-year college, where I […]

Advocacy and teaching go hand-in-hand for me. My teaching career has taken me around the world, from Morocco to Chicago, but my commitment to education advocacy has remained with me on my global travels. One thing that has stuck with me during my time in the Stand for Children Illinois Policy Fellowship is the breadth […]

It seems obvious to me that the best place to learn about a job is, you know, at that job. I was never hired to a new job and then sent somewhere else to learn about what I would be doing. I jumped in and did the work at the office, getting required training there […]