SPRINGFIELD – Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford and State Representative Carol Ammons are fighting to transform how Illinois funds its higher education system through legislation that would take a student-centered approach. 

“Despite education’s paramount importance, the disparity in funding among higher educational institutions remains dreadfully evident,” said Lightford (D-Maywood). “This imbalance not only undermines the principle of equal opportunity but also hampers our collective progress as a society.”

Lightford and Ammons were instrumental in creating the Commission on Equitable Public University Funding in 2021. Over the years, the 30-person commission studied if public institutions of higher education are in dire need of a new funding model when serving underrepresented and historically underserved student groups, including Black and Brown students, as well as students from low-income families.

The commission found on average, university systems in Illinois spend over double the amount on academic and student supports – the spending that most directly impacts student success – than at its less-resourced regional universities. Worse, these arbitrary and inequitable allocation decisions have compounded yearly due to a lack of equitable distribution.

“An investment in higher education isn’t just an investment in students,” said Ammons (D-Urbana). “We’re investing in young people seeking their first degree, and older people seeking a higher degree or returning to get a college degree, and these people increase the quality of our workforce, community, economy and so much more.”

In response, Lightford and Ammons held a press conference Tuesday urging the passage of Senate Bill 13 or House Bill 1581 – identical bills in their respective chambers – to implement a student-centered, adequacy-based funding formula for Illinois’ public universities known as the Adequate and Equitable Public University Funding Formula. The measure is similar to Illinois’ evidence-based K-12 funding model, taking a parallel approach for higher education by outlining a formula that accounts not only for the size of institutions and the types of academic programs they offer, but also demographic factors such as socioeconomic, racial and geographic diversity.

Combined, these variables would be used to calculate adequacy targets, or the optimal amount of annual funding each institution needs to fully serve its students.

“School funding for each university is different. The financial aid required for each university deserves to be calculated as their own entity,” said Representative Norma Hernandez (D-Melrose Park). “We cannot expect to meet each institution's financial necessities when they are only receiving the average calculated funding.”

Lightford, Ammons, Hernandez, university officials and advocates will fight tirelessly throughout the legislative session to get the Adequate and Equitable Public University Funding Formula – and subsequent funding – over the finish line.