The Illinois House on Monday soundly defeated a bipartisan bill that would create a new education funding formula that the state needs to send $6.7 billion to its 852 school districts.
The 46-61 vote on the bill negotiated by the General Assembly’s four legislative leaders came after some lawmakers took issue with the inclusion of a tax credit program to fund scholarships at private schools that would cost the cash-strapped state $75 million a year. “Like it or not, because of our two years of budget impasses and an accumulation of $15 billion in back bills, this state needs to be on a tight fiscal diet for years to come,” State Representative David Harris, a suburban Chicago Republican who voted against the measure, said in a debate on the House floor.
