Finance Reform, Thought Doomed, Gets Airing in Ill.

By Lonnie Harp

School-finance reform, tagged as an impossible dream for Illinois lawmakers this year, is getting an extended run in the Republican-dominated legislature.

The idea seemed destined for an early curtain when it was first proposed by Gov. Jim Edgar last month. But the same election-year pressures that made a $1.9 billion tax increase hard to swallow have also made it difficult for legislators to dismiss altogether the notion of reworking the way the state distributes money for education.

Miffed that the Republican governor had put them in the uncomfortable position of rejecting a more equitable school-funding system, GOP leaders of the House and Senate have floated a compromise version. And though in the long run it may not pass and may not satisfy the backers of finance reform, lawmakers will at least be able to...