Rockford Sun

Illinois school districts can now keep more of the federal education funds meant for them thanks to a measure co-sponsored by Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford) and signed into law recently, according to a press release.

Under House Bill 656, states will no longer be able to withhold part of the U.S. Department of Education funds meant for school districts but instead used to pay teacher retirement costs. The change will save the Rockford Public Schools District approximately $1.69 million, according to the press release.

“This new law is a victory for local school children, teachers and parents in Rockford and in every part of our state,” Sosnowski in the press release. “Local school districts will now receive the federal funds owed to them for normal teacher pension costs, which the State of Illinois has been unfairly withholding from them to pay for the state’s own mistakes of the distant and recent past.”

Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford) | http://www.ilga.gov/house/rep.asp?MemberID=2387

HB656 was introduced by Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth (D-Peoria) and co-sponsored by Sosnowski and Rep. Litesa Wallace (R-Rockford). It is meant to stop the transfer of funds provided by the federal government to the Teachers Retirement System (TRS).