The Illinois State Board of Education [official website] voted on Thursday to approve a settlement [text, PDF] of a lawsuit claiming discriminatory school funding. The vote resolved litigation over the Chicago Urban League’s (CUL) [advocacy website] 2008 lawsuit claiming [Daily Herald report] that the state’s funding model had a “demonstrable, disparate and adverse impact” on minorities. The settlement provides that the board will cap per-pupil cuts or use other distribution methods if appropriations are deemed inadequate. This will replace the old system of “prorating” state aid to schools when money is short. The CUL filed the lawsuit in 2008 challenging the constitutionality of the state’s funding system, but the state was dismissed as a party. CUL then challenged the boards use of “proration” where they would decrease school district payments by an equal across-the-board percentage. The board has continued to deny any allegations of wrongdoing [press release] and said they agreed to a settlement to avoid the “burden, costs, and distraction of continued litigation.”

Education funding has led to numerous legal challenges across the US. In September the Supreme Court of Nevada ruled [JURIST report] that the state’s school funding system was unconstitutional. Earlier that month the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that Governor Matt Bevin did not have the authority to unilaterally cut the budget [JURIST report] for state universities. In 2015 the Supreme Court of Washington ordered [JURIST report] the state to pay a fine of $100,000 per day for each day that it fails to comply with a previous court ruling mandating adequate funding of public schools. Also in August of that year the US Senate passed a bill [JURIST report] to revamp the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act.