Report Expected To Stir Up Ill. School-Finance Debate

By Lonnie Harp

A task force studying inequities in the funding of Illinois schools is expected next month to release a set of politically explosive recommendations that observers say are sure to escalate the finance-reform debate in a state with one of the largest gaps between wealthy and poor school districts in the nation.

The dramatic spending differences in the Prairie State--where per-pupil expenditures in 1989-90 ranged from $2,253 to $14,316--means that the stakes are unusually high for districts at both ends of the spectrum.

Closing the wide gulf would require a substantial and costly policy shift--at an estimated cost of $2 billion in new state funds--by lawmakers, who already face a lawsuit by 72 of...