Mayor Tom Murawski, South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association and Mayor of Midlothian.

My name is Tom Murawski and I am the Chairman of the Legislative Committee of the South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association and Mayor of Midlothian. SSMMA is an intergovernmental organization representing 39 communities and 600,000 residents in Southern Cook and Will counties. We applaud your efforts to find a long-term solution to education funding and we offer our assistance to you, the Governor and the State Legislature as this process moves forward. 

Our Mayors are acutely aware that quality education and schools are vital to our communities. Unfortunately, the current method of financing our schools has produced unpredictable funding from the State and we have had to increasingly rely on higher property taxes to fund our schools. As a result many of our communities have some of the highest property tax rates, not only in the State, but the nation. Despite those high property tax rates, many of our schools have been forced to implement cutbacks in programs and pay inadequate salaries to our teachers. This must end, and our schools and students must be provided the resources necessary to provide the quality education they deserve.                   

The South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association is currently working with educators, the business community, State legislators, parents and others to present a series of solid recommendations to your Board from our region which includes more than I million residents. While specific recommendations have not been finalized, we would like to offer a few basic principles: 

• A level of funding adequate to provide quality education to both primary and secondary schools throughout the State must be established. Automatic revenue growth must be provided as part of the system. Possibly a regional cost index should be included in the formula. 
• Once the quality education funding level is established, the State must provide a minimum of 51% of that funding from State sources. The new state funding would then allow property taxes levied by school districts to be reduced and would allow more equitable funding for schools throughout the State. 
• Schools in the southern suburbs and throughout the State should have the same financial flexibility that has been provided to the Chicago Public School system. The reforms have been largely successful in Chicago and one could easily argue that smaller districts need more flexibility in financial matters than larger ones. 
• The current system of distributing "'poverty funds" is wholly inadequate. Basing the distribution of funds on ten year old census data while many of our schools have experienced large increases in financially disadvantaged students in recent years since the census in unfair. 

In summary, we stand willing to work with all parties involved to develop a system of school funding for our State which allows each district, no matter where it is located or its economic base, to provide a quality education for our students. Our Mayors are committed to this issue and to working with each of you, the Governor and the Legislature to provide a long-term education funding solution.