CHICAGO — State Senator Celina Villanueva announced that school districts across the Chicago area will receive over $23 million in funding to help address the financial challenges of recent years.

“This funding is a commitment to ensure underrepresented students are supported and can become lifelong learners,” said Villanueva (D-Chicago). “Through the evidence-based funding model, great strides are being made in addressing inequity in funding public schools in high-need areas.”

The funding comes from the 2017 Illinois Senate Democrat-backed evidence-based funding formula — an overhaul of the way the state funds K-12 education. The law made school funding more equitable by calculating the needs of individual school districts and basing its state revenue on those needs. The formula takes into account a district’s total enrollment, poverty rate and number of special education or English language learners, among other factors.

This year, a combined $23,357,289 will go to Chicago School District 299 — the district that serves CPS — benefitting hundreds of schools across the city and in the 12th Senate District.

The Fiscal Year 24 budget invested $350 million in funding into students’ success through the evidence-based funding model.

For more information on the FY 24 evidence-based funding distribution, visit the Illinois State Board of Education’s website.