State Senator Michael Noland (D-Elgin) has won his nearly year-long battle to fix the state’s funding formula for Illinois’ second-largest school district, Elgin U-46.  The district will receive an estimated $22 million in additional state funding in the first year alone.

For years, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has considered U-46 a Kane County school district, despite the fact that the majority of the taxable property in the district is located in Cook County.  This seemingly minor decision costs U-46 millions of dollars in state funding every year.

When U-46 leaders realized its funding problem, they asked ISBE to reclassify it as a Cook County school district.  Unfortunately, that request was denied.  Because the district is desperately in need of more funding, Noland introduced legislation to fix the problem at the state level.  Despite the fact that the bill passed both houses of the General Assembly with bipartisan support, the governor vetoed it.  Today, Noland convinced his colleagues to override the governor’s veto.

“This new law is a major victory for the children and parents who live in U-46,” Noland said.  “They will finally receive the state funding they deserve.”

Both chambers of the General Assembly overrode Governor Quinn’s veto of Senate Bill 2499, helping rescue U-46 from its budget woes.

“I’m happy that I was able to work together with my colleagues in the House and the Senate on both sides of the aisle to pass this law,” Noland said.  “This really proves that when we all work together, we can do good things for our districts and our state.  I hope this is a sign that we can take real steps to fix the state’s budget problems.”