Farnham files another funding fix bill

State Rep. Keith Farnham has filed school funding fix legislation that has a very familiar ring to it.

Its components are near identical to legislation vetoed by Gov. Pat Quinn over the summer that would re-apportion state aid to help Elgin Area School District U-46, which believes it's getting shortchanged because of its location in three counties.

While the original Senate sponsor of the legislation, Elgin Democrat Michael Noland, has said he'll ask for a vote to override the governor's veto, Farnham said Tuesday he sees the additional filing as “another avenue.”

Noland thinks the legislation should be informally tied to a property tax swap. Without that, he's called the override a “long shot.”

Farnham's legislation will come up for a vote before the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee Wednesday.

Several officials from the 11 communities that U-46, the state's second largest school district, encompasses were on hand in Springfield Tuesday. Hanover Park Village President Rodney Craig said he was “pleased to see the initiative.”