The Illinois legislature this afternoon approved a major, bipartisan overhaul of the way Illinois funds public education.
Backers are calling it a landmark reform. It would focus state spending on areas with more students in poverty — though no school district would get less funding than it does today.
Democratic state Senator Kimberly Lightford, from Chicago, says the change has been a long time in coming.
“This is what compromise looks like. This is it. A bill that none of us like — at 100 percent.”
The legislation would also create a tax credit — demanded by Republicans — for donating to a new private school scholarship program.
With today’s vote in the state Senate, all that remains is for Governor Bruce Rauner to sign the bill into law, which he has said he’ll do.
