Governor Bruce Rauner signed into law Public Act 100-0465 or the Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act on August 31, 2017. This law enacts evidence-based funding (EBF) and comprehensively changes the way that school districts receive the bulk of state funds. EBF sends more resources to Illinois’ most under-resourced students. EBF takes the necessary first steps toward ensuring all schools have the resources they need to provide a safe, rigorous, and well-rounded learning environment for all students. EBF demonstrates new mindsets for understanding the relationship between equity, adequacy, and student outcomes.

Upcoming Events

Evidence-Based Funding - Student Information for SY2026

Join us for a webinar on Mar 05, 2026 at 10:00 AM CST.

This webinar is intended for district or school data staff and is centered on the enrollment data requirements in the Student Information System (SIS). This session is also appropriate for superintendents or other school and district administrators who want to affirm or broaden their understanding of enrollment calculations for the purposes of Evidence-Based Funding (EBF).

This webinar will cover how student data from SIS and I-Star Plus will be used in the EBF formula. There will be detailed instruction on how to check student enrollments in SIS and determine which students are included or excluded from the Average Student Enrollment, which is used to calculate EBF. There will be a question-and-answer period at the end of the webinar.

EBF Audit

ISBE contracted an independent audit firm to conduct a comprehensive review of the EBF formula calculations and implementation after the agency identified an enrollment coding error last year. The independent audit viewed over 200 data sources, tested over 39,000 data inputs, and performed over 50,000 recalculations – and found no calculation errors. The audit firm issued one finding in its final report regarding implementation of a statutorily required update to the Comparable Wage Index (CWI) component of the formula.

Enrollment Coding Error

A contractor for the Illinois State Board of Education made a coding error in the spring of 2018 during the initial development of the enrollment verification system for Evidence-Based Funding (EBF). The code began with the FY 2019 EBF distribution. After learning of the error, ISBE put additional protocols in place to ensure accuracy moving forward, as well as initiated the process to pursue an external audit of the entire EBF formula. The Illinois General Assembly has authorized a supplemental appropriation for EBF that will allow ISBE to make an immediate adjustment to the EBF distribution in the current school year to remedy the error. All organizational units that are owed more than $10 received a letter from ISBE on April 12, 2022, notifying them of the approximate amount they are owed by the state. A small number of organizational units were overpaid – with the majority overpaid less than $1 total from FY 2019-22. ISBE will pursue the recoupment of funds from organizational units that were overpaid more than $10 during that timeframe. ISBE is committed to taking all measures necessary to ensure fidelity with the EBF formula and ensure fairness in state education funding. Questions can be directed to (217) 782-0249.