Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1994 [PAGE 596]

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584

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

[May 9

nonvoting student trustees were absent: Mr. Neil J. Malone, Springfield campus; Mr. Chapin Rose, Urbana-Champaign campus. Also present were President James J. Stukel; Dr. Sylvia Manning, vice president for academic affairs; Dr. Michael Aiken, chancellor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Dr. David C. Broski, chancellor, University of Illinois at Chicago; Dr. Naomi B. Lynn, chancellor, University of Illinois at Springfield; and the officers of the board, Dr. Craig S. Bazzani, comptroller (and vice president for business and finance); Mr. Byron H. Higgins, university counsel; Mr. Lester H. McKeever, Jr., treasurer; and Dr. Michele M. Thompson, secretary. In addition, the following persons were also in attendance: Mr. Donald K. Coe, university director of public affairs; Mr. Kirk Hard, associate president for governmental relations; Ms. Susan J. Sindelar, special assistant to the president; and Ms. Marna K. Fuesting, special assistant to the secretary.

MEETING OF THE BOARD AS A COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE

Chair Lamont welcomed Dr. Stanley O. Ikenberry, president emeritus of the University, to the meeting and invited him to address the board on the topic of funding for education in the State. Dr. Ikenberry was the chair of the Governor's Commission on Education Funding, an assignment that began in the summer of 1995 and concluded in March 1996. Dr. Ikenberry discussed the work of this commission noting that the burden of financing education has been shifted in Illinois from the State to the local communities. He reminded the board that property taxes pay for elementary and secondary schools. Dr. Ikenberry mentioned that Illinois now has one of the highest property tax rates in the nation. He noted that this is bad for business, bad for agriculture, and bad for schools because the support for the schools varies by socioeconomic status of the local community. Dr. Ikenberry explained that the commission he chaired set out to ask questions about this irrational system of funding education. He said that they tried first to devise a rational methodology for investigation. Next, the members worked with a consulting firm to develop this methodology. Dr. Ikenberry told of the commission's work in the course of the investigation in studying two school districts that were doing well with below average costs. He explained that they then calculated what the recommended level of support per pupil per year should be. He said that the commission settled on $4,225 per pupil per year in support and further recommended that the State pay for half of this to all school districts. He also noted that 50 percent of the schools in the State were currently below this amount per pupil. Dr. Ikenberry commented that the commission's work has made the issues clear and that the political leaders in the State are very well aware of the issues now. He concluded by saying that the recommendations will require time to develop support.