Belleville School District, East St. Louis School District Both Struggle With Inadequate Funding Levels

SPRINGFIELD - Educators and state workers with the Illinois Federation of Teachers rallied and lobbied Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026, at the state Capitol in Springfield, urging Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois General Assembly to fully fund public schools and higher education and to counter federal cuts they attributed to the Trump administration by changing Illinois’ tax code to increase taxes on the ultra-wealthy.

The action, held on the eve of Pritzker’s statewide address, brought members of the 103,000-member union to Springfield to press for what the group described as promised funding that has not been delivered and to advocate for legislation tied to full funding under the state’s Evidence-Based Funding system.

The union also pointed to local impacts in the Metro East. Belleville Township High School District 201, it said, has 4,642 students and is funded at 68.8% of what it needs. The district’s student body is 57.7% low-income, with 18.6% of students having IEPs and 1.6% identified as English language learners, according to the data provided. The union said the gap “translate(s) into larger class sizes, fewer support staff, outdated materials, and less stability for students and families.”

In East St. Louis, the union said federal cuts have reduced community school funding for schools including Annette Officer Elementary. It said the Trump administration terminated the $18 million ACT Now Illinois grant in December 2024, ending after-school care, tutoring, mental health services and family support for two East St. Louis schools one year into a planned five-year cycle. The union said families now have fewer accessible options for services and must “piece together support on their own or go without.”

“From pre-K to PhD. Illinois owes our students over $6 billion, and this is not just in one part of the state. This is urban, this is suburban, this is rural, and our governor needs to deliver on the funds that have been promised and we have not yet received,” said Cyndi Oberle-Dahm, the union’s executive vice president and Southwest Area Council president. “We need to Trump-proof our state. The majority of our schools are underfunded. We need to protect our students, and we need to protect our residents and our communities.”

The union said Illinois is underfunding students and communities by more than $6 billion, including $5 billion for K-12 schools and $1.4 billion for higher education. It cited the Evidence-Based Funding law enacted in 2017, which set 2027 as the deadline for K-12 schools to reach 90% adequacy. The union said recent state budgets have put Illinois behind schedule and that without passing the Guzman-Davis bills, the state would not reach the goal until 2034.

Speakers at the Springfield press conference described strain on schools and services, including special education staffing.

“Today, clinicians such as social workers, speech and language pathologists, occupational and physical therapists and school nurses are assigned to two or more schools. This means students who require weekly services may receive inconsistent or reduced supports,” said Dr. Quintella Bounds, a Chicago Public Schools special education teacher and case manager and member of the Chicago Teachers Union. “These are not abstract budget numbers.”

The union also highlighted higher education funding, with members calling for full funding of public universities.

“We again call on the governor to fund higher education and the legislature to get behind full funding of public higher education,” said John Miller, IFT membership secretary and president of the University Professionals of Illinois Local 4100. “Their failure to do so results in our graduating students with some of the highest debt in this nation.”

Anabelle Jimenez, a student at Northeastern Illinois University, urged lawmakers to act on university funding legislation.

“Please follow through on your promises and pass the Adequate and Equitable Public University Funding Act,” Jimenez said. “We are counting on this.”

Union leaders also tied their funding push to tax policy. IFT Secretary-Treasurer Pankaj Sharma said, “Let’s invest in our young people and set the standard that makes Illinois number one in the country for education. If we have to choose between tax cuts for the ultra wealthy or funding for our children’s education, that’s an easy choice any day of the week.”

The union said members met with legislators and delivered a letter to Pritzker calling on him to “Trump-proof Illinois.” The letter pointed to Massachusetts, where it said a millionaire tax has generated at least $5.7 billion since 2023 for schools, public transit and infrastructure. The union also said Trump has redirected federal budgets away from public schools and other services to provide the top 5% in Illinois with $7 billion in new tax breaks.

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