The Governor wants to increase the amount going into the foundation formula through gambling expansion (of course, it’s really not an expansion in his world, but whatever)–the real problem isn’t putting more money into the foundation, but reformulating it to better provide minimum levels of support for poorer inner ring suburbs and rural areas. Increasing the Foundation by $300 million doesn’t solve the root problem and while nice, it’s akin to rearranging the deck chairs.
Increasing funding isn’t the most important part of the Illinois problem, but redistributing the formula in a way to help the Districts with the most needs (while forcing reforms like consolidation) is the key. The state needs to keep pace with inflation for funding overall, but the bigger problem is the disparity between wealthy and poor districts.