Column: Eventually state budgets should fully fund mandated spending – Kankakee Daily Journal

"... (S)state laws dictate what districts must do (in areas like meals or transportation) but legislators don’t fully fund those obligations. Districts have to follow the laws, which means they have to cough up the difference. The Illinois State Board of Education estimates lawmakers would need to spend $142.2 million more in the next fiscal year just to fall short by the same percentage as this cycle."