Sen. Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon) made it clear Tuesday that nothing unrealistic should be brought before him.
McCarter's discussion with Illinois State Board of Education Superintendent Tony Smith at Tuesday’s Senate Appropriations II Committee hearing regarding the distribution of $350 million given to ISBE under the new evidence-based funding formula for 850 school districts became very heated very quickly when Smith said he questioned the very proposal he was presenting.
“I have been going through this line by line, but I am not sure it really matters,” McCarter said to Smith. “I am just going to get to the real question here. Do you think this is a sensible recommendation and do you think this is realistic?”
“I think it is sensible, but not realistic,” Smith told McCarter.
McCarter then asked why Smith he would “bring anything to us that was not realistic,” and when Smith answered, “because that is not what we are charged to do,” McCarter became more irrate.
“I would never bring anything to the floor of the Senate that was not realistic,” McCarter said. “If someone asked me to pass a bill that I had no intention of passing whatsoever, I wouldn’t waste my time filing for the bill, arguing for the bill or asking for the bill to be heard in committee.”
Smith said given Illinois financial state of affairs, “there is not enough revenue to fund” the evidence-based formula, that “is so different and powerful that the 34 cost factors are the most research based and have the largest effect size.”
When Smith attempted to explain the fairness of the formula specifically for districts that have less than what they need to provide adequate education, McCarter interrupted him.
“Don’t start the fairness with children thing, please, you could double this and triple this and it would all be good for kids,” McCarter said of the 34 cost factors that Smith was adamantly promoting for fair education funding. “The state law has perhaps trapped us into having to listen to requests that are not realistic, and that is what I was afraid of with this formula, that the follow-up was going to be this request that is not realistic.”
McCarter said he questioned Smith’s ability to spend the $350 million dollars wisely.
“I can give you a million dollars and say spend it by Friday, and you probably would not do the best job of spending that money because you would need time to strategize, set up programs and set up investments,” McCarter said, reminding Smith the funds are coming directly from taxpayers.
“Once you bring something that is realistic I will dig into it, and spend the time on it,” McCarter said. “I don’t think anyone else would come to the Appropriations Committee with a 108 percent increase request.”
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