It’s been six years since Evidence-Based Funding started in Illinois and some local schools are seeing improvements.
In 2018 Vienna High School was rated at 52% of adequate funding. That was the year that evidence-based funding began in Illinois.
Six years later the state funding level has increased to 74%.
Vienna High School Superintendent Joshua Stafford says they’ve put those dollars to good use.
“EBF has just allowed us to address deferred maintenance and really do recovery of programs that existed.”
He says it also helped them retain quality teachers and support staff.
“In recent years. We have been able to and really been forced to because of staffing shortages and things like that, inflation to address contracts with our teachers’ unions and contracts with our other employees so that we can be competitive just in the regional job market.”
Stafford says prior to evidence-based funding, schools were seeing a decline in state funds - and being forced to cut staff and programs.
