Dive Brief:

• In Iowa, a lawsuit aims to equalize the funding formula for public schools, while Illinois lawmakers are debating what will have to be in a bill the legislature can pass to overhaul its own formula.
• The Quad-City Times reports a lawsuit was filed just this week on behalf of two graduates of Davenport Schools in Iowa, where per-pupil spending is allegedly as much as $175 less than in 176 other districts across the state.
• Illinois Sen. Sue Rezin is among those lobbying for a new funding formula that recognizes the additional costs of educating students with disabilities, English learners and those in low-income families, though she says an overhaul will have to happen without taking any money away from districts.

Dive Insight:

School funding fights have been fierce in many states across the country. Connecticut officials were recently ordered by a judge to overhaul their own spending formula, in addition to creating a new graduation test, revising teacher and administrator evaluation systems and developing new K-12 education standards. Like in Illinois, a clear barrier to agreeing on a new funding formula in Connecticut is resistance from some of the wealthiest districts who do not want to see any cuts.

The federal Title I program was originally created as a way to provide more money to educate high-needs students. While the government disburses $14 billion through the program, it is still seen as inadequate to meet the needs of all students and schools. In Illinois even the current funding formula, which education advocates already say isn’t designed to properly serve all of the state’s students, hasn’t been fully funded since 2012 due to budget constraints at the state level.