Illinois taxpayers and parents should realize that by voting for a seemingly innocent state constitutional amendment this November they almost certainly will be dealing themselves massive tax increases-on the slim chance that huge injections of cash will be a miracle vaccine for our education problems.
The proposition sounds simple: Require the state to furnish more than 50 percent of the funding for elementary and secondary schools. The amendment`s backers claim that this would solve many schools` budget problems while offering a chance to lower local property taxes. But there`s the trap, because the proposed amendment makes no provision for property tax reductions.
Currently the state`s share of elementary and secondary school funding is $3.4 billion-about 37 percent of total spending. At today`s funding levels, bringing the state`s share to 50 percent will require at least $1.45 billion in new revenue-and income taxes are the only feasible source.
Translate that to a jump in our personal taxes from the present 3 percent to as much as 4.5 percent, and for businesses from 4.8 percent to upwards of 7.2 percent. That`s why-by a 4-to-1 margin-members of the National Federation of Independent Business/Illinois oppose this amendment.
It would be nice to find evidence that more dollars deliver better educational results, but that`s not the case. U.S. Department of Education studies show that real spending per student has more that doubled in 25 years, while SAT test scores have declined.
Our members believe that we should try new approaches to education`s problems instead of giving more dollars to bloated school bureaucracies. One such alternative is freedom of school choice, a concept that our members support in harmony with concerned parents, large numbers of whom live within Chicago, the state`s largest school system.
Illinois doesn`t need a constitutional amendment to improve education;
our state legislators already have that power. They are capable of creating incentives that encourage schools to spend current tax dollars more productively, to educate students better. It is up to us to insist that they do.
